Foxcatcher Read online

  During the trial, I didn’t agree with testimony that du Pont was paranoid schizophrenic. I didn’t like that the prosecutors accepted the diagnosis, either. My analysis of du Pont was that he was an evil, selfish drug addict. But now I agree that John was mentally ill. He was not insane as his lawyers claimed, but I recognize that he did have a sickness.

  When John became eligible for parole, I wrote a letter to the parole board requesting that his bid be denied. I didn’t think they would let him out, but with what he could do with his money, you just could never be too sure about anything regarding John.

  He earlier had hired a private investigator to come to my house in Utah and ask if I would be willing to help John get out of prison. I opened the door with a video camera rolling and asked the private investigator what he wanted. When he told me, I shut the door and sent the video to the Delaware County prosecutor’s office.

  Du Pont was denied parole.

  On Thursday, December 9, 2010, I received word that John had passed away. He was found early that morning in his cell, unresponsive. John had been receiving treatment for severe emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was seventy-two when he died.

  In accordance with instructions in his will, du Pont was buried in a red Foxcatcher wrestling singlet. Eighty percent of his estate was bequeathed to Valentin Jordanov and members of Valentin’s family.

  Du Pont’s death was a nonevent for me. I think my dad said it best when he told a reporter that as far as he was concerned, John had died the day he killed Dave.

  There was a bit of a feeling for me that John’s dying meant there was one thing fewer to think about. I had considered that if he ever did get out of prison, he might put out a hit on someone in our family.

  But other than that, I didn’t care about John.

  He had taken my brother and my career from me, but I had found my ultimate victory over John in 1996 when I won in UFC.

  Du Pont underestimated me as a fighter. He never gave me enough credit for who I was, for how tough I was. John is dead now, though. He is a part of my past that I have died to.

  But still, sometimes when I’m thinking about my brother, remembering the good times we experienced together, the adversity we battled to overcome, both together and on our own, when I’m regretting that Dave can’t be here to be proud of what I have become, I catch myself thinking about his murderer, too.

  And I wish John du Pont had never lived.

  I miss you, Dave.

  Here, at the 1982 NCAA championships in Ames, Iowa, I’m going through my pre-match routine before defeating Ed Banach to win the second of my three collegiate national championships. I was named Outstanding Wrestler at that year’s meet.

  Mark Schultz

  With Dave, left, overlooking Stanford University, where we worked together as assistant coaches after completing our college careers.

  Mark Schultz

  Performing my backflip at the 1984 Summer Olympics after winning the gold-medal match by technical superiority over Japan’s Hideyuki Nagashima.

  Steve Brown

  I didn’t know what to feel, other than relief, after receiving my Olympic gold medal.

  AP

  Dave and I were the first US brothers to win wrestling gold medals in the Olympics—by only a few minutes. We later became the only brothers in US wrestling history to each win World and Olympic championships.

  Mark Schultz

  Winning Olympic medals gave Dave and me the opportunity to meet President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy. This photo was taken before I accidentally kissed Mrs. Reagan on the lips!

  Mark Schultz

  John du Pont in the trophy room of the mansion on the Foxcatcher estate. After his mother passed away, John had his awards placed in more prominent positions than his mother’s. But most of the trophies in the room came from his mother’s breeding of Welsh ponies and championship beagles for competition.

  AP

  John du Pont had this poster made of me after I won the 1987 World Championship as a member of Team Foxcatcher. John wanted to use my name and my championship to promote his team.

  My brother, my coach, and my friend. That easy smile of Dave’s made him popular all around the world.

  Mark Schultz

  Dave in a lighter moment with John du Pont inside the state-of-the-art Foxcatcher National Training Center that John paid to have built on his property.

  AP

  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.

  AP

  Du Pont after being declared unfit to stand trial.

  AP

  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.

  AP

  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

  Acknowledgments

  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.

  Dramatis Personae

  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.

  Bibliography

  “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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