Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold (24 page)

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D
u Pont first came up for parole in December 2009. After sentencing, he had spent three months receiving treatment at a state hospital before being transferred to a state prison for the duration of his sentence.

I called his prison once to ask what kind of living conditions he had there. I was told he was in an eight-foot by ten-foot cell with another prisoner. He was in a special wing, with older prisoners on one side of the block and child molesters on the other. Those were the two groups of prisoners most likely to be abused by the general population, so they were kept in a more secure area. What an idiot du Pont must have been to trade tens of millions of dollars for that kind of existence.

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