The new critically acclaimed movie, Foxcatcher, shows the story of Mark and Dave Schultz. Something that is not shown in the movie is that they lived in Ashland and wrestled for Ashland schools during their middle and high school years.

Mark and Dave Schultz’s fame started around the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1987 the owner of the Foxcatcher team, John du Pont, invited Mark and Dave to live on his property and train the Foxcatcher team to be the U.S.A official wrestling team. Slowly Mark became addicted to drugs and alcohol. He realized what he was doing wrong and after a falling out with Du Pont, left the property. Dave stayed on the Du Pont property to live with his wife and two kids and continued to train on the Foxcatcher team. Du Pont soon became a heavy drinker and slowly went mad. Dave was shot and killed by Du Pont in 1996.

When Dave first came to Ashland Middle School he was routinely picked on for dressing sloppy and being a little chubby for his height and age. After a little while he opened up more to people in hallways and his peers recognized his athletic ability. He slimmed up and got into wrestling. Mark on the other hand, was born with natural muscles though he never really knew what to do with them. He joined the AMS wrestling team and wiped the floor with his opponents, figuratively and literally. Both of their wrestling styles varied. Dave became tactical, learning about his opponents, figuring out what they were going to do and when they were going to do it. He would wrestle people two or three weight classes above him and still be able to pin them within a two minute time period. Mark was more brutish and would muscle his way through the match, wearing down his opponent by slamming and crushing them before pinning them in a short time span.

Their personalities mirrored their athletic ability. Dave was known for being soft spoken, extremely kind and never having a mean word to say about anyone. He would work the hardest he could to reach his goals, but would sacrifice all that effort to help someone else achieve that same goal. Mark’s personality was bitter and hot headed, but only if it had something to do with sports. Outside of the mat he had a great sense of humor. In recent years Mark became a member of the Mormon religion, and is still one to this day. When together, they were completely different people, Dave was Mark’s only stability. He was Mark’s only real friend and the only person he ever really looked up to.

Mark’s high school years here were short and somewhat limited due to the fact that he was only here for one semester. He was only a Grizzly his junior year in 1976-1977. Dave went to Ashland Middle School when ninth grade was not at the high school.

Their weight classes were far apart with Dave standing 5’8” wrestling at 180 lbs. and Mark standing at 5’10” wrestling 250 lbs.

Dave was technical and knew how to counter most moves pulled on him. While Mark would have so much endurance he would be able to wear his opponents down and still have enough energy to do a standing back flip. He was known to do that in every match he won, even in high school.

Mark is presently residing in the Portland area occasionally coming down to the Rogue Valley and to see the Southern Oregon University wrestling team there. The most recent time he was at the high school was in 2003 to greet the wrestling team and give them advice about how to improve. He is currently a motivational speaker and tells people about his life and what he had to do to get to the place he is now.