Trials Help With Widow’s Healing

The U.S. Olympic freestyle wrestling trials proved to be the perfect spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.

Nancy Schultz was all smiles as the last match was ending at the Arena Saturday night.

“This was the best tournament I’ve ever been to as far as the city being into it, as far as how the tournament was run, as far as how the athletes were treated. It was an amazing tournament,” she said. “Not to mention the level of competition was outstanding.”

She should know. As the wife of the late Dave Schultz, the wildly popular 1984 Olympic gold medal winner, she made it to a few tournaments.

Dave Schultz was expected to be here, battling Kenny Monday at 163.5 pounds, before he was allegedly shot by former wrestling benefactor John duPont.

“As this tournament winds up … it feels good for me,” Nancy Schultz said. “It’s been a lot of work, good work, getting the (Dave Schultz) club together. I got to help some guys get here, but that got me through some tough times.”

There was some speculation that the Atlanta Olympics would mark the end of the Dave Schultz Club, but Nancy said she committed to the athletes this week to keep it going for four more years. Seeking sponsors is her next task.

“I told them I’d need to borrow their knee pads,” she said, “because I’ll be begging for money.”

Schultz’s complements were echoed by many of the wrestlers.

Monday said, “I’ve been to three trials and this is the best. This kind of support is really awesome. We appreciate it.”

Road trip

The trials have drawn people from far and wide.

None, however, has come farther than the Kotzebue wrestling team.

Eight members of the high school wrestling team have made the trek to Spokane. And it’s been quite a trek. Kotzebue, a village of 3,000, is an hour north of Nome - by plane. It is above the Arctic circle, a $400 round-trip plane ticket from Anchorage, 800 miles south.

At one time, Kotzebue, now bathed in sunlight 24 hours a day, was considered the polar bear hunting capital of the world.

The Olympic trials are a dream for any young wrestler. What made the trip possible is the young Inupait Eskimos happen to have two coaches with Spokane ties.

“I went up there a couple of years ago but the weather in Alaska is kind of extreme for my wife,” head coach Carl Wilkins said. “She moved down here and is working. I still teach and coach up there, but I’m down for the summer.”

Wilkins and his wife are both Oregon natives, but her family has moved to Spokane.

The assistant coach is Spokane native Greg Baker.

All of the Spokane ties helped draw the wrestling team to the trials.

“A lot of the kids don’t have much opportunity to get out without sports,” Wilkins said. “It’s good for them culturally. They ask a lot of innocent questions.”

The team was sixth in state last year but won the championship two years ago.

The learning curve

Sandpoint native Zac Taylor didn’t pull off a miracle for the local fans, but he didn’t embarrass himself in any way. He lost a pair of one-point decisions during Friday’s minitournament.

“It was nice to be here in Spokane. It’s been a goal of mine,” the 163.5-pound Taylor said. “One of the things with goals, if you don’t reach them early, they’ll still be there. This is just a step for me to get better.”

Taylor returns to the University of Minnesota today and he’ll start training Monday while working at wrestling camps all summer. He has two years of eligibility remaining. He was the top-ranked collegiate wrestler in his weight class until injuring a knee at Christmas.

Pinned

Those hoping for riveting highlights of the finals on local television were sadly disappointed Saturday night.

Because ESPN held the rights to the finals - which will be televised in two weeks - local TV was not allowed to shoot Saturday night’s action, except for crowd reaction.

The film they showed was taken in the morning session.

Silver screen

During a break in the action, scenes from the movie “Vision Quest” were shown on the big screen at the Arena.

The scenes, of course, featured local legends Cash Stone, the coach at Mead, and Ken Pelo, the retiring coach at Rogers.

That set up a perfect introduction to recognize their combined 87 years of contributions to the sport.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo