Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold (25 page)

An aerial view of John du Pont’s mansion in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Imagine going through the financial struggles I faced while trying to continue my wrestling career and seeing this home from a helicopter when I flew in to interview with John for the Villanova job.

AP

John du Pont steps out of a police van after murdering Dave and being arrested at the conclusion of his forty-eight-hour standoff at his mansion.

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Du Pont after being declared unfit to stand trial.

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Defeating Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge at UFC IX in 1996 provided the career-ending victory that had been missing since the disheartening end to my wrestling career at the 1988 Olympics.

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This is what a fifty-three-year-old Olympic wrestling champion looks like. Do I look like I’m still ready to go?

Tim Tidball

I’d like to thank Domenic Romano and Rose Massary of Romano Law for all of their help, as well as Chip MacGregor at MacGregor Literary Agency. David Thomas helped me write a great book.

At Dutton, Jill Schwartzman and Stephanie Hitchcock have been invaluable in seeing this project through to completion.

I also want to acknowledge Bennett Miller, Megan Ellison, Annapurna Productions, Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, and Mark Ruffalo, for getting my story on-screen. I appreciate the care you all took in honoring Dave’s legacy.

Finally, the biggest thanks go to my parents, Jeannie St. Germain and Philip Gary Schultz. And to my brother, Dave. Things may not have been easy for us at times but we always had each
other.

STAN ABEL

a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, was head coach of the University of Oklahoma wrestling team for which Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz wrestled.

ALAN ALBRIGHT

was head wrestling coach at Brigham Young University and hired Mark to work there as an assistant.

DAVE AUBLE

is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame who coached Mark and Dave at UCLA.

ED BANACH

wrestled at Iowa along with his older brother, Steve, and twin brother, Lou. Mark defeated Ed in the finals of the 1982 NCAA Wrestling Championships.

BRUCE BAUMGARTNER

was Mark’s US teammate at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, at which he won two of his four Olympic wrestling medals.

DAVE BENETEAU

known as “Dangerous Dave,” was an ultimate fighter whom Mark helped train.

TIM BROWN

was Mark’s high school wrestling coach in Ashland, Oregon.

ROB CALABRESE

was the first wrestler to join John du Pont’s Team Foxcatcher and coached with Mark at Villanova University.

DAN CHAID

was a teammate of Mark and Dave’s at Oklahoma. Chaid coached at Villanova with Mark and worked out frequently with him at Villanova and on Team Foxcatcher.

JOHN DU PONT

was an heir to the du Pont family fortune who hired Mark as an assistant wrestling coach at Villanova and to wrestle and coach for his Team Foxcatcher. He murdered Dave in January 1996 and then died in prison in December 2010.

DAN GABLE

one of the most decorated wrestlers and coaches in US wrestling history, coached the University of Iowa to sixteen NCAA championships. He was head coach of the US freestyle team when Mark won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics.

PAT GOODALE

was security expert for John du Pont and one of two witnesses to the murder of Dave.

GARY GOODRIDGE

known as “Big Daddy,” was the opponent in Mark’s only bout in Ultimate Fighting Championship.

SADAO HAMADA

gymnastics coach at Stanford University, coached Mark in the sport before Mark switched to wrestling.

ED HART

coached Mark and Dave at Palo Alto High School in California.

CHRIS HORPEL

was an All-American wrestler at Stanford who coached Mark early in his wrestling career. He also coached Mark and Dave while he was an assistant coach at UCLA, and he later hired Mark and Dave to work as his assistants at Stanford.

JIM HUMPHREY

was assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma when Mark and Dave wrestled there. He was also head coach of the US freestyle team for which Mark competed in the 1988 Olympics and later coached Team Foxcatcher.

VALENTIN JORDANOV

was a seven-time World Champion wrestler from Bulgaria who trained at Foxcatcher while Mark’s brother lived and coached there.

REŞIT KARABACAK

was a Turkish wrestler who was ranked number one in his weight class entering the 1984 Olympics. Mark’s victory against Karabacak was overturned after Mark broke Karabacak’s elbow during the match.

LEE KEMP

was a three-time World Champion who shared with Mark the record for most wrestling world titles won by an American.

ANDRE METZGER

was a teammate of Mark and Dave’s at Oklahoma, where he earned All-American honors four times. He later coached at Villanova.

VLADIMIR MODOSYAN

was a World Champion wrestler from the Soviet Union.

CHRIS RINKE

was a Canadian wrestler whom Mark defeated en route to winning the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics.

MARIO SALETNIK

was the highest-ranking official in FILA, wrestling’s international governing body, and lived for a time on the Foxcatcher estate.

DAVE SCHULTZ

was Mark’s older brother, whose wrestling accomplishments included an NCAA championship, an Olympic gold medal, and one World Championship.

NANCY SCHULTZ

was Dave’s wife.

PHILIP SCHULTZ

was father to Mark and Dave.

MIKE SHEETS

wrestled at Oklahoma State University, where he competed against both Mark and Dave. After college, he was an opponent of Mark’s in key matches on the national level.

ISREAL SHEPPARD

was a two-time All-American wrestler and teammate of Mark and Dave’s at Oklahoma.

JEANNIE ST. GERMAIN

was mother to Mark and Dave.

RICKY STEWART

was a wrestler with Oklahoma State who was a redshirt freshman the one season Dave competed there.

GREG STROBEL

was head wrestling coach for Team Foxcatcher.

TARAS WOCHOK

was John du Pont’s longtime lawyer.

CHUCK YARNALL

was Villanova’s head wrestling coach when Mark moved there.

“An Eccentric Heir’s Wrestle with Death.”
Newsweek
, February 5, 1996. http://www.newsweek.com/eccentric-heirs-wrestle-death-179902 (accessed June 29, 2014).

Buckley, J. Taylor, and Gary Fields. “John du Pont’s Life a Clash of Contradictions.”
USA Today
, February 5, 1996.

Gensler, Howard. “Yarnall Resigns as Villanova Wrestling Coach.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, February 15, 1987. http://articles.philly.com/1987-02-15/news/26180898_1_du-pont-high-school-wrestler-team-foxcatcher (accessed June 29, 2014).

“Heir Trigger.”
Daily News
(New York)
,
January 29, 1996.

Koury, Renee. “Du Pont Case: Accused Killer of Wrestler Lived in Atherton.”
San Jose Mercury News
, February 1, 1996.

Longman, Jere, Pam Belluck, and Jon Nordheimer. “A Life in Pieces: For du Pont Heir, Question Was Control.”
The New York Times
, February 4, 1996.

Neff, Craig. “Fatal Obsession.”
Sports Illustrated
, February 5, 1996.

Ordine, Bill, and Ralph Vigoda.
Fatal Match: Inside the Mind of Killer Millionaire John du Pont
. New York: Avon Books, 1988.

Ordine, Bill, and Ralph Vigoda. “Loved Ones Mourn Slain Wrestler.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, February 12, 1996.

Ordine, Bill, and Ralph Vigoda. “Prosecutors: Du Pont Still Runs Things.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, July 21, 1996.

Plaschke, Bill. “Unwelcome Mat.”
Los Angeles Times
, June 9, 1996. http://articles.latimes.com/1996-06-09/sports/sp-13287_1_dave-schultz-wrestling-club (accessed June 29, 2014).

Pucin, Diane. “Schultz Is Gone, but Still Dominating Olympic Trials.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, June 9, 1996.

Schaefer, Mari A. “John du Pont Was Buried in His Wrestling Singlet.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, February 16, 2011.

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