Mark Schultz

Mark Philip Schultz (born October 26, 1960) is a former American freestyle wrestler.

Schultz was a 3-time NCAA champion, Olympic champion and 2-time World champion.

Mark Schultz was born in 1960 in Palo Alto, California to Dorothy Jean St. Germain (née Rich) and Philip Gary Schultz.

He was their second son; first-born Dave Schultz was 17 months older.

They had two half-siblings, Michael and Seana.

Schultz is of half Belarusian-Jewish and half British/Irish/French/German descent.

His paternal grandparents were Estelle (Bernstein), the daughter of a prominent paper company executive, and Maxwell L. Schultz, a business consultant.

His maternal grandparents were Dorothy (Starks), a radiologist who graduated from Stanford Medical School #1 in her class, and Willis Rich, a Stanford ichthyology professor, inventor of the salmon ladder and discoverer of the "home stream theory" that salmon return to the rivers where they were born in order to spawn before they die.

The boys attended local schools.

Schultz got interested in gymnastics and started competing.

Mark Schultz attended Palo Alto High, where he was coached by Ed Hart.

Mark competed first in gymnastics, winning the Northern California All-Around Gymnastics Championships in the 15-16 year old age group.

During his junior year in high school, he moved to Ashland, Oregon and switched to Tang Soo Do at Bob Barrow Karate.

After he got in a fight with his brother Dave, he quit Tang Soo Do and tried out for the Ashland High School wrestling team at 130 lbs.

After one semester at Ashland he transferred back to Palo Alto, but was declared ineligible, ending his junior year with a 4–6 record.

Over the summer of 1977 Mark Grew several inches and gained 30 lbs.

The Palo Alto High wrestling coach was also Mark's gymnastics coach Ed Hart.

Mark started for Palo Alto High at 154 lb (+ 5 lbs at the CA State Championships=159 lbs).

Coach Hart scheduled three 16-team tournaments during the regular season.

During Mark's senior year he broke his big toe and couldn't compete in the 1st tournament.

At the next tournament at Alisal High School Mark lost his first match and was eliminated.

At the Monta Vista Invitational Mark took 3rd.

At the end of the season Mark won the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (9 schools), the Region (20 schools), the Central Coast Section (90 schools).

At CCS Mark defeated Joe Guillory from James Lick High who was the defending CCS champion.

Mark was named CCS Outstanding Wrestler.

At the 1978 California State Championships (900 schools) Mark defeated 3 undefeated wrestlers to win state.

Mark was named Palo Alto High School "Athlete of the Year" in 1978.

Mark's high school record was 34-8.

Mark is the only California High School State Champion in history never to win a tournament prior to the state qualifiers.

In contrast, Mark's brother Dave Schultz had the greatest high school senior year in U.S. history.

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame gives out an award each year to the best wrestler from every state and one for the entire country called the "Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award."

Many people attribute Mark's rapid improvement at the end of his senior year to training with his brother Dave, but Mark never trained with Dave until the summer after Mark's senior year.

The Schultz brothers won more NCAA, World, and Olympic titles than any brother combination in U.S. history.

Schultz was voted by his peers "College Wrestler of the decade" in the book "The Golden Era of Amateur Wrestling: 1980's" by Reginald Rowe.

Schultz attended UCLA and went 18-8 at 150 & 158 lbs his freshman year.

He transferred to the University of Oklahoma, redshirted, and in the following three years (1981–83) won three NCAA Championships.

He and his older brother, wrestler Dave Schultz, both won gold medals in wrestling in the same Olympics (1984).

They are the only American brothers to win both World and Olympic gold, and have won more NCAA, U.S. Open, World, and Olympic titles than any other American brother combination in history.

In 1995, Schultz was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.

He is also in the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the San Mateo Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame.