• July 29, 1996
• Vol. 46
• No. 5

Holding Her Own

By Rob Howe

Nancy Schultz Founds a Wrestling Club in Memory of Her Slain Olympian Husband

EAGER TO SEE THE OLYMPIC FLAME, a small crowd gathered early one drizzly June morning outside Philadelphia's Independence Hall. Nancy Schultz, who would bear the symbol aloft on the next lap of its meandering 15,000-mile journey through the U.S. to Atlanta, was to touch an unlit torch to the flame held by the previous runner, then carry it for a half-mile through the city. But before the flame arrived, Schultz defied an Olympic security official and let bystanders pass the torch among themselves. "Sharing it with other people is the fun of it," says Schultz, 37. Besides, she adds, that sort of sharing was the kind of selfless gesture her late husband, David, would have made, and she was running in his place. "It was an honor and an exciting event," she says, "but, at the same time, I wanted to be standing on the sidelines watching Dave carry the torch."

David Schultz, a 1984 Olympic gold medal winner in freestyle wrestling, was one of his sport's most beloved heroes, both in the U.S. and abroad. Even at 36, he was determined to compete in Atlanta. But on Jan. 26, while Schultz tinkered with his car radio, John Eleuthere du Pont, 57, a wealthy eccentric who had given millions to amateur wrestling and employed Schultz as head coach of the team he sponsored on his Foxcatcher estate near Philadelphia, pulled into Schultz's driveway on the estate and inexplicably shot him twice. Nancy, drawn to the front door by the sound, says du Pont shot her husband a third time, then leveled his handgun at her before driving away.

For a week afterward, Schultz's children Alexander, 10, and Danielle, 7, couldn't sleep for fear that they too would be killed. Nor could they understand why their father had been shot by someone they trusted. Alexander still asks "why Daddy got killed and why did John du Pont kill him," says Schultz. "I don't have the answers."

For the moment, du Pont remains in prison awaiting trial, which is scheduled to start Sept. 30. His lawyers, however, have asked for additional time to decide whether to pursue an insanity defense. Meanwhile, Nancy Schultz has tried to salvage a life for her family by embracing the sport that was her husband's passion. In April she announced the formation of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club, its name chosen by members of the team, some of whom were Foxcatcher alumni. Formed to finance training through private donations for 20 full-time wrestlers until the next Olympics in Australia, the club fielded 40 competitors at April's National Freestyle Open and took second place. Later, at the Olympic trials in Spokane, Wash., one of its wrestlers, Pittsburgh's Kurt Angle, 27, made the U.S. team. Schultz, who currently draws no salary and works from her home, is club president and general manager. "The thing she does best is helping and being there for others," says Dennis Stoffel, 34, Nancy's brother, a photographer's assistant who lives with her near Palo Alto, Calif. "When she got focused on the club, the healing started. It occupied her mind and took it off the fact that she was going to be without David for the rest of her life."

Nancy Stoffel and Dave Schultz, born just five hours apart—she in St. Louis, he in Palo Alto—met as students in 1981 at the University of Oklahoma. They married the following Valentine's Day, their wedding invitation engraved (in chalk) on the blackboard in the wrestlers' locker room at the university: "Nancy and Dave are getting married tomorrow."

After graduating in physical education, Nancy ran a city gymnastics program in Norman, Okla., while her husband immersed himself in training (1,200 to 1,500 hours a year) and competition. From 1982 to 1986, while he coached at Stanford, she ran the gymnastics program in nearby San Mateo, Calif. Over the years, Schultz became the sport's leading ambassador, learning Russian and other languages so that he could help draw the international wrestling community closer.

After the Olympic trials in June, Nancy Schultz moved back to the San Francisco area where Dave grew up and where his father, Philip, 62, a minister, still lives. "They lost their father awfully young," says Nancy of her kids. "In this way, his influence can get to them through his father and friends." She says that creating the club assures that she and her children will remain "around the people I care about and who care about us." She has also set up a foundation—hoping to raise $10 million—to loosen the hold private patrons have on the sport. "While [Dave] was here we were lucky enough to have a wonderful marriage, and he enjoyed his two children," says Nancy. "For that I am grateful. It won't be difficult keeping him alive in our hearts. He was an easy man to love."

ROB HOWE
BOB CALANDRA in Philadelphia

• Contributors:
• Bob Calandra.