Germany Schulz
Encyclopedia
Adolph George "Germany" Schulz (April 19, 1883 – April 14, 1951) was an All-American American football
center
for the University of Michigan
Wolverines
from 1904 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1908. While playing at Michigan, Schulz is credited with having invented the spiral snap
and with developing the practice of standing behind the defensive line. As the first lineman to play in back of the line on defense, he is credited as football's first linebacker
.
During his time at Michigan, Schulz also became involved in one of college football's earliest recruiting controversies, as some suggested that he was a "ringer" recruited by Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost. Schulz was 21 years old when he enrolled at Michigan, had worked in an Indiana steel mill and reportedly played for either amateur or professional teams. Michigan was refused re-entry into the Western Conference
in 1908 when it insisted on playing the 25-year-old Schulz for a fourth season in violation of conference eligibility rules.
Despite the controversies, Schulz is remembered both as an innovator and one of the toughest football players in the early days of the game. In 1951, Schulz was selected as the greatest center in football history in a poll conducted by the National Football Foundation
and became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame
. He has also been inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
.
After his days as a collegiate athlete ended, Schulz assumed a variety of assistant coaching, athletic director
, and head coach
ing positions in college football
. He eventually entered the insurance industry, where he enjoyed a long career. He died in 1951, several days after being named the greatest center in football history by the College Football Foundation.
, the son of German immigrants. His father, Adolph F. Schulz, Sr., was a doctor who was born in 1854, and his mother, Sophia, was born in 1850. The couple emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1880 with their infant daughter Wilhelmina (born December 1879). Schulz also two brothers, Fred Schulz and Arthur Schulz, both of whom became doctors. Schulz played football for Fort Wayne High School and was also a member of amateur city teams for several years.
In 1904, Schulz enrolled at the University of Michigan
at age 21, standing and weighing 215 pound. In the early 1900s, many decried the increasing recruitment of ringers—older, experienced players whose qualifications as "student athletes" were suspect. Michigan's coach, Fielding H. Yost, whose teams outscored their opponents 2,821 to 42 between 1901 and 1905, had been accused of using ringers before. When Yost accepted the head coaching job at Michigan, he had recruited his star player, 23-year-old Willie Heston
, to transfer to Michigan from the California State Normal School
. When the 21-year-old Schulz joined the team, there were suggestions that he was Yost's newest ringer. The suspicions were exacerbated by reports that Schulz was a factory worker in an Indiana steel mill
who had played for a half-dozen professional teams before enrolling at Michigan.
Until the time of his death, reports of his having been a ringer angered Schulz. While he did work in a steel mill, Schulz insisted that he did not "come out" of the steel mill to play football. Instead, Schulz said he "went into" the mill to harden himself up for the football season
. When asked years later how he got to Michigan, Schulz recalled that, in the summer of 1904, he was working in the mill and had received several offers to play football. One day, his father called to say that Fielding Yost of Michigan was in his office. Schulz ran down the street and rushed into his father's office, where he was introduced to Yost. His father promptly told him, "Adolph, this is Mr. Yost. You are to play football for him at Michigan. We have made all the arrangements".
In September 1904, on his way to Ann Arbor, Michigan
(the home of the University of Michigan), Schulz recalled that he stopped in Chicago, Illinois where he spent four days drinking beer and generally having a "swell time". A group of Michigan representatives eventually found him in Chicago and put him on the next train to Ann Arbor. When he arrived in Ann Arbor, Yost was furious and accused Schulz of flirting with Amos Alonzo Stagg
, the legendary coach of the University of Chicago
. Schulz was immediately taken out to Michigan's training camp
at Whitmore Lake
and kept asking Yost when he was going to be allowed to register. Yost told Schulz that he had taken care of it. According to Schulz, he was registered two weeks before he ever saw the campus.
Yost's account differed dramatically from that of Schulz. Sensitive to allegations that he was recruiting ringers, Yost denied having recruited Schulz and claimed that Schulz was just another student who tried out for the team. According to Yost, the first time he ever saw Schulz was in the fall of 1904 when Schulz was waiting tables at a fraternity house in Ann Arbor and told Yost he would like to play football. Yost went so far as to say that he initially thought the young waiter looked too awkward to be a football player, but "did not want to discourage anybody".
to play on Michigan’s 1904 football team
. The team featured the school's all-time scoring leader, Willie Heston, finished with a record of 10–0, and outscored opponents 567–22. Schulz started all ten games for the 1904 team.
Schulz began his playing career at Michigan as a guard
, starting five games at that position. However, mid-way through the season, Yost moved Schulz to center
, where he started the remaining five games. Schulz’s play at center was reported to have been "gilt-edged", and his accuracy in snapping the ball was praised by the team’s quarterback
, Fred Norcross. Six games into the season, Schulz’s hometown newspaper reported on Schulz's accomplishments under the headline: "Makes Good at Michigan". The article noted: "Schulz went to Ann Arbor practically green at the game, but by hard and consistent work he has succeeded in winning a place on the greatest team in America, and is the only freshman out of fifty who was able to do so".
Schulz was one of the larger football players of his time and was known as a fierce hitter. Schulz liked to tell a story about an incident during Michigan's 1904 game against Oberlin College
. He recalled: "We were playing Oberlin in 1904. Their regular center was hurt and a little 155-pound fellow came in. I hit him as hard as I could. Imagine my surprise when he looked up and said, 'please sir, if you are determined to be fierce, let me know and I'll get out of the way.' I was no good the rest of the afternoon. Every time I looked at the little fellow, I had to break out laughing".
Before the 1905 season got underway, Schulz contracted malaria
in the spring. Newspapers reported it was a "serious attack" and that he "has been quite ill", but he was able to recuperate before the 1905 football season. In October 1905, Coach Yost said: "In looking over the whole bunch, I do not see anyone who has improved more than Schulz. He is bigger and stronger than ever, and I do not know a man in the world that has it the least bit over him in the center position. I would not trade him for any other center rush in the country today. He looks good to me for the All-America team
right now". Though he was not selected for the All-America team in 1905, Schulz did receive All-Western honors.
. First, he is credited with having invented the spiral snap. Before Schulz, centers passed the ball to one of the backs in an end-over-end manner.
Second, Schulz is credited with being the first center to step back from the line while playing defense. Prior to Schulz’s innovation, centers played in the line on defense. In 1905, Schulz began dropping back from the line, enabling him to use his speed to move laterally and giving him greater coverage across the field of play. At the time, the innovation was referred to as a "roving center", but it was effectively the birth of the linebacker
position in American football. Asked how he developed the "roving center" idea, Schulz noted that the backs started from five yards behind the line and concluded, "No back living could move five yards while I was moving four". He described his thinking to Coach Yost this way: "It's all very simple, Yost. The ball carrier travels five yards while I travel only four yard to meet him. I know of no back who can beat me in a five-yard race after giving me a one-yard handicap".
In 1954, sports columnist Dave Lewis explored the history of the linebacker position, and concluded that Schulz was the "first of the breed". Lewis wrote: "Schulz revolutionized defensive line play being the first to back up the line".
Schulz recalled that the first time he stepped back from the line on defense, Coach Yost was horrified. Yost said, "Dutchman, what are you trying to do?" "Stop 'em", replied Schulz. "But you're supposed to play in the line", Yost insisted. "They'll run over us." "Listen Yost", Schulz claims to have said, "My way is best. If any of 'em gets by me, I'll move back into the line and stay there". Yost eventually saw the wisdom in Schulz's technique, and soon nearly all centers were backing up the line on defense.
states: "He missed the 1906 season; he had dropped out of school because of a lack of funds. He worked in a steel mill in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and earned the money to return to college". In fact, Schulz’s father was a successful doctor, and contemporary reports indicate that Schulz was ineligible to play in 1906 for academic reasons. In February 1906, one paper reported that Schulz had been "dropped from the rolls on account of poor work during the semester". Another report in March 1906 indicated that Schulz had left the university "by desire of the faculty" after he fell behind in his studies. In September 1906, The Washington Post
reported that Schulz’s academic problems continued to render him ineligible to play.
, Schulz was reported to have been "a brick wall of defense" and "hard as nails".
After starting the season 5–0, Michigan closed the 1907 season playing the University of Pennsylvania
. For the first time, one of the eastern schools had agreed to play a game at Ferry Field
in Ann Arbor. In the buildup to the game, the press focused on Schulz as the key to Michigan’s chances. One writer noted: "There is one man in the Michigan eleven that Pennsylvania fears and will endeavor to stop if possible when the two great teams meet in Ann Arbor November 16, 1907. That man is Germany Schulz, Yost's great center". Penn even announced that they were moving their star tackle, Draper, to center in an effort to stop Schulz. In the end, Penn beat Michigan, 6–0, marking the first time the Wolverines had ever lost a game at Ferry Field.
Despite the loss, press reports after the game credited Schulz with a great effort. One account noted: "Pennsy is said to have delegated three players to watch him, the heavyweight center played a star game throughout. He broke through the line repeatedly and stopped plays. Then again he would dash out to the end and tackle the man attempting to circle the wing. He was down under punts and in the open play showed as much speed as any player on the field. And he weighs 234 pounds".
At the end of the season, there was a consensus that "The giant center of Michigan practically stands in a class by himself at the pivot position". University of Chicago star Walter Eckersall
, said: "Schulz, of Michigan, easily outshone his opponents in every game. He is finely built, runs fast, snaps accurately, tackles hard, and is all over the field in every play". One writer referred to Schulz in 1907 as a "human catapult" and said: "Schulz of Michigan is a very heavy man, weighing over 200 pounds, yet he is strikingly fast on his feet and is unusual on that account. He propels his massive frame at a rate of speed that terrifies opponents. . . . The acknowledged prowess of Schulz makes him an especial object of unfair attack in scrimmages by opponents who hope, by disabling him, to weaken the Michigan team".
Coach Yost added: "Schultz is without doubt the best center in the country. In fact, Schulz is the best man in the middle of the line I have ever seen in all my football experience". In naming Schulz to his All-America team, Walter Camp
said: "He is well over six feet in height, yet a fast, powerful man who gets well over the field and makes more tackles in a game than any other man on his team. In addition he is an accurate passer and feeds the ball well to his backs either for kicks or runs".
after the 1906 season, and if it was to seek readmission in 1908, it was required to comply with Western Conference eligibility rules. Under those rules, a player was limited to three years of play, though Michigan's rule allowed a player four years of eligibility. Michigan officials contended that Schulz should not be governed by the rule, because he had begun play before the conference's rule was enacted.
Schulz found himself in the middle of football's first eligibility controversy. At the same time, David Starr Jordan
, the President of Stanford University
, made a speech referring to modern college football
as "unethical", "unchristian", "unsportsmanlike" and "a monstrosity". Starr noted that "practically all the major universities employ questionable methods in securing athletes". Jordan heaped particular scorn on Michigan, where he claimed "the alumni and cheap gamblers of the town brought in men who were professionals and paid them salaries to play on Michigan athlete teams". The New York Times
ran a front page story repeating Jordan's charges.
The Western Conference’s eligibility rules had been at the center of Michigan’s dispute with the conference for more than a year. Unlike the Western Conference, the eastern schools had looser eligibility standards, and it was "generally conceded that playing under [the Western Conference's] strict eligibility rules Michigan is at a big disadvantage in games with eastern colleges, where, to say the least, the lines are not so clearly drawn".
Schulz complained amid the controversy about inaccurate reporting of his age. "As a rule my age is generally given as twenty-five, when in fact I am but twenty-three." Schulz would have been 24 at the time of his comments.
Michigan presented its case for Schulz to a meeting of the "Big Nine" in Chicago. One account noted: "The Michigan case will be discussed at the meeting and it is very likely that a vote requesting the Ann Arbor institution to withdraw from the body will be passed. Michigan’s open violation of the conference rules during the last year has aroused a strong hostile spirit, and it is known that a majority of the schools favor dropping the Wolverines from the association". Manager Charles Baird was given the task of arguing Schulz’s case to the Conference at its January meeting.
The student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, urged the school not to abandon Schulz. It wrote: "Germany Schulz is now recognized as the captain of Michigan’s next football team . . ., and while Michigan students are not averse to going back into active alliance with the western schools, any attempt to debar Schulz from his fairly won honor is sure to cause an uproar, which may upset all of the feeling of compromise which is now evident". Ultimately, the Western Conference forced Michigan to choose between Schulz or the conference. Michigan chose Schulz, and the Big Nine remained the Big Eight for the 1908 season.
and the discus
) due to his performance on a semester exam in hydraulics
. While he would be allowed to get his work straightened out before it came time to compete in football, news accounts noted that "the outlook is rather gloomy at present".
By the time football season arrived, Schulz's academic problems had worsened. Contemporary reports indicated that "It is not physical conditions which are keeping the giant player from the game (as was announced), but educational ones". In early October 1908, Schulz had "three conditions in the engineering course, more than a player can carry and continue his athletic relations". Though "every effort" had been made for two weeks to have the conditions removed, those efforts had failed. A meeting of the eligibility board was held, and they concluded that Schulz could not play until he removed at least two of the conditions. While it was possible for Schulz to remove the conditions by the end of October by "burning the midnight oil", it was reported that "this is an optimistic view of the situation shared by few".
Schulz ultimately had his eligibility restored in late October and was greeted with "cheers from the bleacher
s" when he appeared in his first practice on October 22, 1907. It appears that Schulz's academic problems continued, as a 1910 article concerning the post-college success of football players reported that Schulz "didn’t finish" his course at Michigan.
.
In one of the few contemporaneous accounts, the Toledo Blade wrote that the Penn players, knowing that Schulz was "the power in the Michigan game", focused their energy on wearing him down. There were two Penn players who "did nothing but look after Schultz". And they did more than look: "In every scrimmage, he was bumped as hard as the rules allowed, and maybe a little harder, when nobody was looking. ... Every time Schultz started anywhere he would find a couple of Penn men digging headfirst into his stomach. They would elbow him, jam him with the straight arm, and if he went to the ground in a scrimmage there generally would be a knee grinding him in the wind. Pretty soon Schultz began to show it. ... He limped along pitifully. He couldn't run. His strength was almost gone. When he did tackle
, his groan of pain could almost be heard in the stands". But the fans continued to urge Schulz with yells of "G-r-r-r-r-rah, Schultz!" Schulz buckled down and continued to play, and the pummeling continued.
At half-time
, the trainers
found on Schulz "a mass of black and blue spots". His "face was distorted with bumps", and there were "welts on his back and groin". As the second half started, Schulz insisted he felt better and went back into the game. But the attack continued. "Another scrimmage and two more Penn men were after him again. He went into the play and for an instant, his strength came back, but it couldn't last, and it didn't.” Yost finally sent in a substitute, and Schulz limped to the sideline and walked slowly away "with head bowed and hands to his stomach". And when the "rubbers" removed his togs and examined him, "they marveled that he was able to walk". In the end, Schulz "didn't say a word—big tears rolled down as he lay there; Schultz was thoroughly beaten, but it took the entire Pennsylvania eleven to do it".
Penn's captain, Bill Hollenback
, said: “This fellow Schulz is a monster in size and a perfect athlete. He is both wonderfully agile and fast for a man of his size. In our game with Michigan, we had two men instructed to play against Schulz and at times three and four were opposed to him. For some time, he handed out as much as we passed to him in the roughing end of the game. He was here, there and everywhere. He did most of the tackling. He broke up innumerable plays. He was the star of the contest until the continued battering of our men injured him to such an extent that he had to retire. The rest was easy". Coach Yost said of Schulz's performance: "He gave the greatest one-man exhibition of courage I ever saw on a football field".
From the 1920s through the 1950s, the story was told, re-told and likely embellished in columns by Grantland Rice
, Art Carlson, Frank Blair and Dave Lewis—more than one of them writing that they had seen the game in person. In Carlson's 1925 account, "the giant center had been rendered practically useless from the Penn attack", but refused to leave the game. Carlson recalled Schulz's removal from the game this way: "It was a scene I shall never forget—the giant Schulz, towering above the rest of the combatants, literally dragged off the field, tears streaming down his mud-spattered cheeks as he frantically protested his removal from the game".
In 1942, Grantland Rice wrote that Schulz held the Penn team in check for 50 minutes and that the score was 0–0 when Schulz "left the field a battered wreck". (In fact, contemporaneous accounts show the score was 6–0 at halftime.)
In Frank Blair's 1951 telling, Schulz played with the "strength of Samson", and Penn "put five men -- center, both guards and both tackles—on the Wolverine giant". According to Blair, who claimed to have attended the game as a high school student, Schulz played like a madman, making nearly all the tackles for 50 minutes, and Penn was held scoreless until Schulz was "carried from the field".
In a 1954 article, sports writer Dave Lewis wrote that Penn assigned five players to the task of mowing down Schulz. Lewis quoted Schulz as having said: "I can still see those five pairs of eyes staring at me every time we lined up . . . ready to tear me apart". According to Lewis, all five men piled on Schulz every play, and Schulz held Penn scoreless for 50 minutes before they "finally knocked him out". Lewis concluded: "Never before or since has there been such a one-man show of defensive football as Schulz displayed against Penn".
A few months before his death, Schulz told Detroit News sports writer H.G. Salsinger that he had only one regret: "I wish I could have lasted 10 minutes longer. That was one game I wanted to finish".
published his All-Time All-American list in Century magazine, selecting the best player at each position over the 20 years he had been watching college football. He selected Schulz as his center, the first of many such All-Time All-American selections for Schulz. At the time, Camp said: "Big, strong and fast, he combined all the defensive and offensive qualities of the best line men with the speed, sure tackling and intuition as to what to do on the instant that are winning qualities of the defensive back
. In addition, his passing was excellent, as he had plenty of speed for his kicker, steadiness for his quarter, and ability to pass in directions other than in a straight line which made him especially valuable in certain formation plays".
In 1949, Grantland Rice chose him as the center for his All-Time All-American team. At the time, Rice said: "Schulz was 6 feet 4 and he weighed 245 pounds. He was as fast as a good halfback. I have never seen a center who was his equal at backing up a line and then protecting both flanks. He was a terrific tackler".
In 1951, the College Football Foundation commissioned the Associated Press
to conduct a poll of more than 100 sports editors to choose an All-Time All-American team. Those chosen would be the initial inductees into the new College Football Hall of Fame
. Schulz won the great majority of the votes at center and thus became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame. In announcing the selection, the Associated Press said: "Schulz was a giant of a man—six feet five and 285 pounds—with tremendous ham-like hands that worked to his advantage in that era of mass formations when ground was gained on brute strength alone". On being told of his selection, Schulz, who died ten days later, said he was honored and noted: "I haven't missed one of those teams yet".
He was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1960. He was also posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
in 1979. In 2004, He was selected as one of the top fifteen football players in U-M history in 2004 by The Michigan Daily.
. He played for the Dayton Oakwoods team. His first game with the Oakwoods was on Thanksgiving 1909. In that game, the Oakwoods defeated the Pittsburgh Lyceum
, which had gone undefeated for three seasons and was considered the top professional team of its era.
At the time of the 1900 United States Census, Schulz was listed as residing with his parents in Fort Wayne, and his occupation was listed as being an engineer with an electric works.
The Oakwoods made Schulz an offer to return in 1910 as the team's captain, but contemporaneous press accounts indicate he was weighing the remuneration to be paid by the Oakwoods against his steady job at the Fort Wayne Electric works. Though some accounts indicate that he ultimately accepted the Oakwoods' offer, official records of play have not been located to determine whether Schulz actually played for the Oakwoods in 1910. In December 1910, Schulz did play on an all-star team against the All-Harvard club in a game in Memphis, Tennessee
for the benefit of the United Charities association.
. After two years, he resigned to accept the management
of an automobile concern in Fort Wayne.
In late November 1915, Schulz’s mother, Sophia Schulz, died at age 65. Two days after her death, Schulz announced that he was withdrawing from the Michigan coaching staff, though it was noted at the time that several Midwestern
universities were working to get Schulz as their head coach.
In January 1916, the Fort Wayne Sentinel reported that Schulz was back to work at his old position in the general testing room at the Fort Wayne Electric works, after an absence of two years.
at Kansas State Agricultural College, now known as Kansas State University
. Schulz spent four years in Manhattan, Kansas
, working as an assistant under head coach Z.G. Clevenger. When Kansas State beat Southwestern
53–0, the Fort Wayne paper ran a story: “Germany’s Team Wins.” During the first three years under Schulz and Clevenger, the Wildcats went 16–4–1 and outscored their opponents 464–90. However, in 1920, Kansas State gave up 109 points (more than in the three prior seasons combined) and finished with a 3–5–1. Schulz announced his resignation in January 1920.
In a draft registration card completed in September 1918, Schulz identified his occupation as an athletic coach for the Kansas Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kansas
. During World War I
, Schulz also served as the athletic director at Fort Riley
in Kansas
. He was assigned to direct athletic exercises
for the men serving at the camp. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Schulz was listed as an athletic coach living in Manhattan, Kansas.
in New Orleans, Louisiana
as the director of the school's new "department of physical education". Reporters took note of Schulz's size when he arrived in New Orleans: "It is a fortunate thing for all concerned that Schulz has taken up the more peaceful pursuit of physical director. It is a stroke of good fortune for Tulane and her athletes that the athletic council was able to land a big man like Schulz". Though he served as the school’s athletic director, Schulz also chose to take charge of the linemen during football season, working along side football coach Clark Shaughnessy
. In 1920, Schulz arranged for the Tulane football team to play Michigan as part of the most extensive trip made to that point by a southern football team. Schulz's team faced off against Coach Yost and the Wolverines on October 30, 1920 and were shut out, 21–0.
at the University of Detroit. Shortly after his appointment, Schulz announced that he was looking for "eleven raving maniacs" to fill out his team, a phrase that was picked up in wire service reports around the country. He noted: "You can't beat eleven raving maniacs with football heads". In September 1923, the press reported that Schulz suffered a shoulder injury while demonstrating proper tackling technique on a tackling "dummy". After going 39–7 in the five seasons before Schulz took over, the Detroit team fell to 4–3–2 in 1923. In January 1924, the University announced that it would not renew Schulz's contract, and Schulz announced his "permanent retirement from football coaching".
with his wife, Emilie V. Schulz (age 35), his mother-in-law, Emilie V. Sabovian (age 82), and his sister-in-law, Louise Sabovian. His occupation was listed in the 1930 Census as an insurance salesman.
Schulz died in 1951, less than two weeks after being selected as the center on the All-Time All-American Team. Schulz had undergone an operation for a "malignant ulcer
of the stomach" in February 1951 and suffered a relapse in April. He died at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital
at age 67.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
center
Center (American football)
Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...
for the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...
from 1904 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1908. While playing at Michigan, Schulz is credited with having invented the spiral snap
Snap (football)
A snap starts each American football and Canadian football play from scrimmage.-Action:...
and with developing the practice of standing behind the defensive line. As the first lineman to play in back of the line on defense, he is credited as football's first linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
.
During his time at Michigan, Schulz also became involved in one of college football's earliest recruiting controversies, as some suggested that he was a "ringer" recruited by Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost. Schulz was 21 years old when he enrolled at Michigan, had worked in an Indiana steel mill and reportedly played for either amateur or professional teams. Michigan was refused re-entry into the Western Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
in 1908 when it insisted on playing the 25-year-old Schulz for a fourth season in violation of conference eligibility rules.
Despite the controversies, Schulz is remembered both as an innovator and one of the toughest football players in the early days of the game. In 1951, Schulz was selected as the greatest center in football history in a poll conducted by the National Football Foundation
National Football Foundation
The National Football Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1947 by General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army Black Knights football coach Earl "Red" Blaik and journalist Grantland Rice...
and became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
. He has also been inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame is a Hall of Fame to honor Michigan sports people. It was organized in 1954 by Michigan Lieutenant Governor Philip Hart, Michigan State University athletic director Biggie Munn, president of the Greater Michigan Foundation Donald Weeks, general manager of the...
and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...
.
After his days as a collegiate athlete ended, Schulz assumed a variety of assistant coaching, athletic director
Athletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
, and head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
ing positions in college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
. He eventually entered the insurance industry, where he enjoyed a long career. He died in 1951, several days after being named the greatest center in football history by the College Football Foundation.
Childhood
Schulz was born in Fort Wayne, IndianaFort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
, the son of German immigrants. His father, Adolph F. Schulz, Sr., was a doctor who was born in 1854, and his mother, Sophia, was born in 1850. The couple emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1880 with their infant daughter Wilhelmina (born December 1879). Schulz also two brothers, Fred Schulz and Arthur Schulz, both of whom became doctors. Schulz played football for Fort Wayne High School and was also a member of amateur city teams for several years.
Concerns that Schulz was a ringer
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
at age 21, standing and weighing 215 pound. In the early 1900s, many decried the increasing recruitment of ringers—older, experienced players whose qualifications as "student athletes" were suspect. Michigan's coach, Fielding H. Yost, whose teams outscored their opponents 2,821 to 42 between 1901 and 1905, had been accused of using ringers before. When Yost accepted the head coaching job at Michigan, he had recruited his star player, 23-year-old Willie Heston
Willie Heston
William Martin "Willie" Heston was an American football player and coach. He played halfback at San Jose State University and the University of Michigan. Heston was the head football coach for Drake University in 1905 and North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, now North...
, to transfer to Michigan from the California State Normal School
California State Normal School
The California State Normal School was a teaching college founded on May 2, 1862, whose original campus later became both the California State University and its San Jose State University campus....
. When the 21-year-old Schulz joined the team, there were suggestions that he was Yost's newest ringer. The suspicions were exacerbated by reports that Schulz was a factory worker in an Indiana steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
who had played for a half-dozen professional teams before enrolling at Michigan.
Until the time of his death, reports of his having been a ringer angered Schulz. While he did work in a steel mill, Schulz insisted that he did not "come out" of the steel mill to play football. Instead, Schulz said he "went into" the mill to harden himself up for the football season
Season (sports)
In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an...
. When asked years later how he got to Michigan, Schulz recalled that, in the summer of 1904, he was working in the mill and had received several offers to play football. One day, his father called to say that Fielding Yost of Michigan was in his office. Schulz ran down the street and rushed into his father's office, where he was introduced to Yost. His father promptly told him, "Adolph, this is Mr. Yost. You are to play football for him at Michigan. We have made all the arrangements".
In September 1904, on his way to Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
(the home of the University of Michigan), Schulz recalled that he stopped in Chicago, Illinois where he spent four days drinking beer and generally having a "swell time". A group of Michigan representatives eventually found him in Chicago and put him on the next train to Ann Arbor. When he arrived in Ann Arbor, Yost was furious and accused Schulz of flirting with Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...
, the legendary coach of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. Schulz was immediately taken out to Michigan's training camp
Training camp
A training camp is a place, usually with an army-camp-type environment, where people go to learn skills, usually skills involving physical action rather than book subjects, usually for an armed force or an action sport...
at Whitmore Lake
Whitmore Lake, Michigan
Whitmore Lake is an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community spans the boundary between Green Oak Township in Livingston County and Northfield Township in Washtenaw County. The United States Census Bureau has defined a census-designated place with this name for...
and kept asking Yost when he was going to be allowed to register. Yost told Schulz that he had taken care of it. According to Schulz, he was registered two weeks before he ever saw the campus.
Yost's account differed dramatically from that of Schulz. Sensitive to allegations that he was recruiting ringers, Yost denied having recruited Schulz and claimed that Schulz was just another student who tried out for the team. According to Yost, the first time he ever saw Schulz was in the fall of 1904 when Schulz was waiting tables at a fraternity house in Ann Arbor and told Yost he would like to play football. Yost went so far as to say that he initially thought the young waiter looked too awkward to be a football player, but "did not want to discourage anybody".
Freshman year: Michigan's undefeated season
Schulz was the only freshmanFreshman
A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
to play on Michigan’s 1904 football team
1904 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1904 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1904 college football season. In the team's fourth season under head coach Fielding H. Yost, the Wolverines compiled a perfect 10–0 record and outscored opponents 567–22. The 1904 team was the fourth of Yost's...
. The team featured the school's all-time scoring leader, Willie Heston, finished with a record of 10–0, and outscored opponents 567–22. Schulz started all ten games for the 1904 team.
Schulz began his playing career at Michigan as a guard
Guard (American football)
In American and Canadian football, a guard is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team....
, starting five games at that position. However, mid-way through the season, Yost moved Schulz to center
Center (American football)
Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...
, where he started the remaining five games. Schulz’s play at center was reported to have been "gilt-edged", and his accuracy in snapping the ball was praised by the team’s quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
, Fred Norcross. Six games into the season, Schulz’s hometown newspaper reported on Schulz's accomplishments under the headline: "Makes Good at Michigan". The article noted: "Schulz went to Ann Arbor practically green at the game, but by hard and consistent work he has succeeded in winning a place on the greatest team in America, and is the only freshman out of fifty who was able to do so".
Schulz was one of the larger football players of his time and was known as a fierce hitter. Schulz liked to tell a story about an incident during Michigan's 1904 game against Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
. He recalled: "We were playing Oberlin in 1904. Their regular center was hurt and a little 155-pound fellow came in. I hit him as hard as I could. Imagine my surprise when he looked up and said, 'please sir, if you are determined to be fierce, let me know and I'll get out of the way.' I was no good the rest of the afternoon. Every time I looked at the little fellow, I had to break out laughing".
1905 season: Stardom
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
in the spring. Newspapers reported it was a "serious attack" and that he "has been quite ill", but he was able to recuperate before the 1905 football season. In October 1905, Coach Yost said: "In looking over the whole bunch, I do not see anyone who has improved more than Schulz. He is bigger and stronger than ever, and I do not know a man in the world that has it the least bit over him in the center position. I would not trade him for any other center rush in the country today. He looks good to me for the All-America team
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Casper Whitney and published in This...
right now". Though he was not selected for the All-America team in 1905, Schulz did receive All-Western honors.
Innovations: The "spiral snap" and the "roving center"
Schulz is widely credited with two important innovations in the development of the modern game of American footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. First, he is credited with having invented the spiral snap. Before Schulz, centers passed the ball to one of the backs in an end-over-end manner.
Second, Schulz is credited with being the first center to step back from the line while playing defense. Prior to Schulz’s innovation, centers played in the line on defense. In 1905, Schulz began dropping back from the line, enabling him to use his speed to move laterally and giving him greater coverage across the field of play. At the time, the innovation was referred to as a "roving center", but it was effectively the birth of the linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
position in American football. Asked how he developed the "roving center" idea, Schulz noted that the backs started from five yards behind the line and concluded, "No back living could move five yards while I was moving four". He described his thinking to Coach Yost this way: "It's all very simple, Yost. The ball carrier travels five yards while I travel only four yard to meet him. I know of no back who can beat me in a five-yard race after giving me a one-yard handicap".
In 1954, sports columnist Dave Lewis explored the history of the linebacker position, and concluded that Schulz was the "first of the breed". Lewis wrote: "Schulz revolutionized defensive line play being the first to back up the line".
Schulz recalled that the first time he stepped back from the line on defense, Coach Yost was horrified. Yost said, "Dutchman, what are you trying to do?" "Stop 'em", replied Schulz. "But you're supposed to play in the line", Yost insisted. "They'll run over us." "Listen Yost", Schulz claims to have said, "My way is best. If any of 'em gets by me, I'll move back into the line and stay there". Yost eventually saw the wisdom in Schulz's technique, and soon nearly all centers were backing up the line on defense.
Ineligibility for the 1906 season
Schulz's promising football career took a detour in 1906. Some sources indicate that Schulz missed the 1906 season for financial reasons. Schulz’s official biography at the College Football Hall of FameCollege Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
states: "He missed the 1906 season; he had dropped out of school because of a lack of funds. He worked in a steel mill in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and earned the money to return to college". In fact, Schulz’s father was a successful doctor, and contemporary reports indicate that Schulz was ineligible to play in 1906 for academic reasons. In February 1906, one paper reported that Schulz had been "dropped from the rolls on account of poor work during the semester". Another report in March 1906 indicated that Schulz had left the university "by desire of the faculty" after he fell behind in his studies. In September 1906, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reported that Schulz’s academic problems continued to render him ineligible to play.
All-American in 1907
When Schulz returned to the team in 1907, he was the talk of the campus. One newspaper reported that Ann Arbor had "5,000 students continually gossiping about him", as Schulz’s return was seen as "a gigantic stride in the direction of (Michigan's) winning back her former football prestige". Coach Yost noted: "We need him not only as a player, but also as a leader. In energy, ability to stand hard knocks, and courage he is a model for the rest of the team to strive after". With Schulz in the lineup, Michigan won its first five games by a combined score of 107–0. In Michigan's game against Ohio StateOhio State Buckeyes football
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...
, Schulz was reported to have been "a brick wall of defense" and "hard as nails".
After starting the season 5–0, Michigan closed the 1907 season playing the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. For the first time, one of the eastern schools had agreed to play a game at Ferry Field
Ferry Field
Ferry Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It opened in 1906 and was home to the Michigan Wolverines football team prior to the Michigan Stadium opening in 1927. It had a capacity of 46,000....
in Ann Arbor. In the buildup to the game, the press focused on Schulz as the key to Michigan’s chances. One writer noted: "There is one man in the Michigan eleven that Pennsylvania fears and will endeavor to stop if possible when the two great teams meet in Ann Arbor November 16, 1907. That man is Germany Schulz, Yost's great center". Penn even announced that they were moving their star tackle, Draper, to center in an effort to stop Schulz. In the end, Penn beat Michigan, 6–0, marking the first time the Wolverines had ever lost a game at Ferry Field.
Despite the loss, press reports after the game credited Schulz with a great effort. One account noted: "Pennsy is said to have delegated three players to watch him, the heavyweight center played a star game throughout. He broke through the line repeatedly and stopped plays. Then again he would dash out to the end and tackle the man attempting to circle the wing. He was down under punts and in the open play showed as much speed as any player on the field. And he weighs 234 pounds".
At the end of the season, there was a consensus that "The giant center of Michigan practically stands in a class by himself at the pivot position". University of Chicago star Walter Eckersall
Walter Eckersall
Walter "Eckie" Eckersall was an American football player, official, and sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.-Early life:...
, said: "Schulz, of Michigan, easily outshone his opponents in every game. He is finely built, runs fast, snaps accurately, tackles hard, and is all over the field in every play". One writer referred to Schulz in 1907 as a "human catapult" and said: "Schulz of Michigan is a very heavy man, weighing over 200 pounds, yet he is strikingly fast on his feet and is unusual on that account. He propels his massive frame at a rate of speed that terrifies opponents. . . . The acknowledged prowess of Schulz makes him an especial object of unfair attack in scrimmages by opponents who hope, by disabling him, to weaken the Michigan team".
Coach Yost added: "Schultz is without doubt the best center in the country. In fact, Schulz is the best man in the middle of the line I have ever seen in all my football experience". In naming Schulz to his All-America team, Walter Camp
Walter Camp
Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
said: "He is well over six feet in height, yet a fast, powerful man who gets well over the field and makes more tackles in a game than any other man on his team. In addition he is an accurate passer and feeds the ball well to his backs either for kicks or runs".
Controversy over eligibility for 1908
As the 1907 season ended, a controversy was sparked when the Michigan players unanimously voted Schulz as the captain for the 1908 season. Michigan had been suspended by the Western ConferenceBig Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
after the 1906 season, and if it was to seek readmission in 1908, it was required to comply with Western Conference eligibility rules. Under those rules, a player was limited to three years of play, though Michigan's rule allowed a player four years of eligibility. Michigan officials contended that Schulz should not be governed by the rule, because he had begun play before the conference's rule was enacted.
Schulz found himself in the middle of football's first eligibility controversy. At the same time, David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.-Early life and education:...
, the President of Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, made a speech referring to modern college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
as "unethical", "unchristian", "unsportsmanlike" and "a monstrosity". Starr noted that "practically all the major universities employ questionable methods in securing athletes". Jordan heaped particular scorn on Michigan, where he claimed "the alumni and cheap gamblers of the town brought in men who were professionals and paid them salaries to play on Michigan athlete teams". The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
ran a front page story repeating Jordan's charges.
The Western Conference’s eligibility rules had been at the center of Michigan’s dispute with the conference for more than a year. Unlike the Western Conference, the eastern schools had looser eligibility standards, and it was "generally conceded that playing under [the Western Conference's] strict eligibility rules Michigan is at a big disadvantage in games with eastern colleges, where, to say the least, the lines are not so clearly drawn".
Schulz complained amid the controversy about inaccurate reporting of his age. "As a rule my age is generally given as twenty-five, when in fact I am but twenty-three." Schulz would have been 24 at the time of his comments.
Michigan presented its case for Schulz to a meeting of the "Big Nine" in Chicago. One account noted: "The Michigan case will be discussed at the meeting and it is very likely that a vote requesting the Ann Arbor institution to withdraw from the body will be passed. Michigan’s open violation of the conference rules during the last year has aroused a strong hostile spirit, and it is known that a majority of the schools favor dropping the Wolverines from the association". Manager Charles Baird was given the task of arguing Schulz’s case to the Conference at its January meeting.
The student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, urged the school not to abandon Schulz. It wrote: "Germany Schulz is now recognized as the captain of Michigan’s next football team . . ., and while Michigan students are not averse to going back into active alliance with the western schools, any attempt to debar Schulz from his fairly won honor is sure to cause an uproar, which may upset all of the feeling of compromise which is now evident". Ultimately, the Western Conference forced Michigan to choose between Schulz or the conference. Michigan chose Schulz, and the Big Nine remained the Big Eight for the 1908 season.
1908 season and further academic eligibility problems
After a strong show of support from the University, Schulz ran into further academic problems. In February 1908, the University announced that Schulz was ineligible for the track team (Schulz competed in the shot putShot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
and the discus
Discus
Discus, "disk" in Latin, may refer to:* Discus , a progressive rock band from Indonesia* Discus , a fictional character from the Marvel Comics Universe and enemy of Luke Cage* Discus , a freshwater fish popular with aquarium keepers...
) due to his performance on a semester exam in hydraulics
Hydraulics
Hydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics is used for the generation, control,...
. While he would be allowed to get his work straightened out before it came time to compete in football, news accounts noted that "the outlook is rather gloomy at present".
By the time football season arrived, Schulz's academic problems had worsened. Contemporary reports indicated that "It is not physical conditions which are keeping the giant player from the game (as was announced), but educational ones". In early October 1908, Schulz had "three conditions in the engineering course, more than a player can carry and continue his athletic relations". Though "every effort" had been made for two weeks to have the conditions removed, those efforts had failed. A meeting of the eligibility board was held, and they concluded that Schulz could not play until he removed at least two of the conditions. While it was possible for Schulz to remove the conditions by the end of October by "burning the midnight oil", it was reported that "this is an optimistic view of the situation shared by few".
Schulz ultimately had his eligibility restored in late October and was greeted with "cheers from the bleacher
Bleacher
Bleachers is an American term used to describe the raised, tiered rows of seats found at sports fields or at other spectator events...
s" when he appeared in his first practice on October 22, 1907. It appears that Schulz's academic problems continued, as a 1910 article concerning the post-college success of football players reported that Schulz "didn’t finish" his course at Michigan.
1908 Penn game
In 1908, Michigan went into its rivalry game against Penn undefeated. Michigan hoped to avenge two straight defeats to the Quakers, and its hopes were based to a large extent on Schulz. Penn announced before the game that it would bring four available centers so there "might be a fresh antagonist facing the Michigan captain throughout the game". Special trains from all over Michigan poured large crowds into Ann Arbor, and the crowd was said to be "the largest attendance which has been on Ferry Field". Though Michigan was beaten that day, 29–0, Schulz's courageous performance, and the pummeling he took from the Penn team, was recounted many times in the following decades. Not all of these accounts are consistent with each other, but the story of the Penn game has become an integral part of the Germany Schulz hagiographyHagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
.
In one of the few contemporaneous accounts, the Toledo Blade wrote that the Penn players, knowing that Schulz was "the power in the Michigan game", focused their energy on wearing him down. There were two Penn players who "did nothing but look after Schultz". And they did more than look: "In every scrimmage, he was bumped as hard as the rules allowed, and maybe a little harder, when nobody was looking. ... Every time Schultz started anywhere he would find a couple of Penn men digging headfirst into his stomach. They would elbow him, jam him with the straight arm, and if he went to the ground in a scrimmage there generally would be a knee grinding him in the wind. Pretty soon Schultz began to show it. ... He limped along pitifully. He couldn't run. His strength was almost gone. When he did tackle
Tackle (football move)
Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....
, his groan of pain could almost be heard in the stands". But the fans continued to urge Schulz with yells of "G-r-r-r-r-rah, Schultz!" Schulz buckled down and continued to play, and the pummeling continued.
At half-time
Half-time
In some team sports such as association football and rugby, matches are played in two halves. Half-time is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match...
, the trainers
Athletic trainer
An athletic trainer is a certified, health care professional who practices in the field of sports medicine. Athletic training has been recognized by the American Medical Association as an allied health care profession since 1990....
found on Schulz "a mass of black and blue spots". His "face was distorted with bumps", and there were "welts on his back and groin". As the second half started, Schulz insisted he felt better and went back into the game. But the attack continued. "Another scrimmage and two more Penn men were after him again. He went into the play and for an instant, his strength came back, but it couldn't last, and it didn't.” Yost finally sent in a substitute, and Schulz limped to the sideline and walked slowly away "with head bowed and hands to his stomach". And when the "rubbers" removed his togs and examined him, "they marveled that he was able to walk". In the end, Schulz "didn't say a word—big tears rolled down as he lay there; Schultz was thoroughly beaten, but it took the entire Pennsylvania eleven to do it".
Penn's captain, Bill Hollenback
Bill Hollenback
-References:* *, which tracks the Football history of the Union Club of Phoenixville-External links:...
, said: “This fellow Schulz is a monster in size and a perfect athlete. He is both wonderfully agile and fast for a man of his size. In our game with Michigan, we had two men instructed to play against Schulz and at times three and four were opposed to him. For some time, he handed out as much as we passed to him in the roughing end of the game. He was here, there and everywhere. He did most of the tackling. He broke up innumerable plays. He was the star of the contest until the continued battering of our men injured him to such an extent that he had to retire. The rest was easy". Coach Yost said of Schulz's performance: "He gave the greatest one-man exhibition of courage I ever saw on a football field".
From the 1920s through the 1950s, the story was told, re-told and likely embellished in columns by Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
, Art Carlson, Frank Blair and Dave Lewis—more than one of them writing that they had seen the game in person. In Carlson's 1925 account, "the giant center had been rendered practically useless from the Penn attack", but refused to leave the game. Carlson recalled Schulz's removal from the game this way: "It was a scene I shall never forget—the giant Schulz, towering above the rest of the combatants, literally dragged off the field, tears streaming down his mud-spattered cheeks as he frantically protested his removal from the game".
In 1942, Grantland Rice wrote that Schulz held the Penn team in check for 50 minutes and that the score was 0–0 when Schulz "left the field a battered wreck". (In fact, contemporaneous accounts show the score was 6–0 at halftime.)
In Frank Blair's 1951 telling, Schulz played with the "strength of Samson", and Penn "put five men -- center, both guards and both tackles—on the Wolverine giant". According to Blair, who claimed to have attended the game as a high school student, Schulz played like a madman, making nearly all the tackles for 50 minutes, and Penn was held scoreless until Schulz was "carried from the field".
In a 1954 article, sports writer Dave Lewis wrote that Penn assigned five players to the task of mowing down Schulz. Lewis quoted Schulz as having said: "I can still see those five pairs of eyes staring at me every time we lined up . . . ready to tear me apart". According to Lewis, all five men piled on Schulz every play, and Schulz held Penn scoreless for 50 minutes before they "finally knocked him out". Lewis concluded: "Never before or since has there been such a one-man show of defensive football as Schulz displayed against Penn".
A few months before his death, Schulz told Detroit News sports writer H.G. Salsinger that he had only one regret: "I wish I could have lasted 10 minutes longer. That was one game I wanted to finish".
Awards and accolades
In January 1910, Walter CampWalter Camp
Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
published his All-Time All-American list in Century magazine, selecting the best player at each position over the 20 years he had been watching college football. He selected Schulz as his center, the first of many such All-Time All-American selections for Schulz. At the time, Camp said: "Big, strong and fast, he combined all the defensive and offensive qualities of the best line men with the speed, sure tackling and intuition as to what to do on the instant that are winning qualities of the defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
. In addition, his passing was excellent, as he had plenty of speed for his kicker, steadiness for his quarter, and ability to pass in directions other than in a straight line which made him especially valuable in certain formation plays".
In 1949, Grantland Rice chose him as the center for his All-Time All-American team. At the time, Rice said: "Schulz was 6 feet 4 and he weighed 245 pounds. He was as fast as a good halfback. I have never seen a center who was his equal at backing up a line and then protecting both flanks. He was a terrific tackler".
In 1951, the College Football Foundation commissioned the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
to conduct a poll of more than 100 sports editors to choose an All-Time All-American team. Those chosen would be the initial inductees into the new College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
. Schulz won the great majority of the votes at center and thus became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame. In announcing the selection, the Associated Press said: "Schulz was a giant of a man—six feet five and 285 pounds—with tremendous ham-like hands that worked to his advantage in that era of mass formations when ground was gained on brute strength alone". On being told of his selection, Schulz, who died ten days later, said he was honored and noted: "I haven't missed one of those teams yet".
He was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1960. He was also posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...
in 1979. In 2004, He was selected as one of the top fifteen football players in U-M history in 2004 by The Michigan Daily.
Professional football in the Tri-State league
In 1909 and 1910, Schulz played briefly in the infant Tri-State professional football league operating in Ohio, Illinois, and PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. He played for the Dayton Oakwoods team. His first game with the Oakwoods was on Thanksgiving 1909. In that game, the Oakwoods defeated the Pittsburgh Lyceum
Pittsburgh Lyceum (American football)
The Pittsburgh Lyceum were a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1906 until 1910. They were regarded as one of the professional football teams in Pittsburgh from 1907 until 1909. The team was also the last championship Pittsburgh would produce until the 1970s...
, which had gone undefeated for three seasons and was considered the top professional team of its era.
At the time of the 1900 United States Census, Schulz was listed as residing with his parents in Fort Wayne, and his occupation was listed as being an engineer with an electric works.
The Oakwoods made Schulz an offer to return in 1910 as the team's captain, but contemporaneous press accounts indicate he was weighing the remuneration to be paid by the Oakwoods against his steady job at the Fort Wayne Electric works. Though some accounts indicate that he ultimately accepted the Oakwoods' offer, official records of play have not been located to determine whether Schulz actually played for the Oakwoods in 1910. In December 1910, Schulz did play on an all-star team against the All-Harvard club in a game in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
for the benefit of the United Charities association.
University of Wisconsin
In 1911 and 1912, Schulz worked as the line coach for the University of WisconsinWisconsin Badgers football
The Wisconsin Badgers are a college football program that represents the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. They play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium, the fourth-oldest stadium in college football...
. After two years, he resigned to accept the management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
of an automobile concern in Fort Wayne.
University of Michigan
Schulz returned to coaching in 1913 as the line coach and chief assistant coach for Fielding H. Yost at Michigan. He held that position for three seasons from 1913–1915. While working as an assistant coach at Michigan, Schulz has been credited with introducing the technique of overshifting a lineman on defense. In 1913, Schulz developed a new blocking technique by shifting one of the linemen. Coach Yost was unconvinced until Schulz performed a demonstration using Michigan's left guard Royce Traphagen. Schulz first put Traphagen in the line position designated by Yost, Schulz lined up on the other side of the line and charged, "almost wrecking Traphagen". Then, Schulz had the groggy Traphagen line up in the spot designated by Schulz, and when Schulz charged he missed. Schulz implemented the overshift technique during the 1913 season.In late November 1915, Schulz’s mother, Sophia Schulz, died at age 65. Two days after her death, Schulz announced that he was withdrawing from the Michigan coaching staff, though it was noted at the time that several Midwestern
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
universities were working to get Schulz as their head coach.
In January 1916, the Fort Wayne Sentinel reported that Schulz was back to work at his old position in the general testing room at the Fort Wayne Electric works, after an absence of two years.
Kansas State
In September 1916, Schulz returned to coaching as the assistant athletic directorAthletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
at Kansas State Agricultural College, now known as Kansas State University
Kansas State University
Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
. Schulz spent four years in Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan is a city located in the northeastern part of the state of Kansas in the United States, at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. It is the county seat of Riley County and the city extends into Pottawatomie County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 52,281...
, working as an assistant under head coach Z.G. Clevenger. When Kansas State beat Southwestern
Southwestern University
Southwestern University is a private, four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Georgetown, Texas, USA. Founded in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest university in Texas. The school is affiliated with the United Methodist Church although the curriculum is nonsectarian...
53–0, the Fort Wayne paper ran a story: “Germany’s Team Wins.” During the first three years under Schulz and Clevenger, the Wildcats went 16–4–1 and outscored their opponents 464–90. However, in 1920, Kansas State gave up 109 points (more than in the three prior seasons combined) and finished with a 3–5–1. Schulz announced his resignation in January 1920.
In a draft registration card completed in September 1918, Schulz identified his occupation as an athletic coach for the Kansas Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan is a city located in the northeastern part of the state of Kansas in the United States, at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. It is the county seat of Riley County and the city extends into Pottawatomie County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 52,281...
. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Schulz also served as the athletic director at Fort Riley
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...
in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. He was assigned to direct athletic exercises
Physical exercise
Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons including strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, honing athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance, as well as for the purpose of...
for the men serving at the camp. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Schulz was listed as an athletic coach living in Manhattan, Kansas.
Tulane University
In August 1920, Schulz was hired by Tulane UniversityTulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
as the director of the school's new "department of physical education". Reporters took note of Schulz's size when he arrived in New Orleans: "It is a fortunate thing for all concerned that Schulz has taken up the more peaceful pursuit of physical director. It is a stroke of good fortune for Tulane and her athletes that the athletic council was able to land a big man like Schulz". Though he served as the school’s athletic director, Schulz also chose to take charge of the linemen during football season, working along side football coach Clark Shaughnessy
Clark Shaughnessy
Clark Daniel Shaughnessy was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes called the "father of the T formation", although that system had previously been used as early as the 1880s. Shaughnessy did, however, modernize the obsolescent T formation to make it once again relevant in the...
. In 1920, Schulz arranged for the Tulane football team to play Michigan as part of the most extensive trip made to that point by a southern football team. Schulz's team faced off against Coach Yost and the Wolverines on October 30, 1920 and were shut out, 21–0.
University of Detroit
In December 1922, Schulz was hired as head football coachHead coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
at the University of Detroit. Shortly after his appointment, Schulz announced that he was looking for "eleven raving maniacs" to fill out his team, a phrase that was picked up in wire service reports around the country. He noted: "You can't beat eleven raving maniacs with football heads". In September 1923, the press reported that Schulz suffered a shoulder injury while demonstrating proper tackling technique on a tackling "dummy". After going 39–7 in the five seasons before Schulz took over, the Detroit team fell to 4–3–2 in 1923. In January 1924, the University announced that it would not renew Schulz's contract, and Schulz announced his "permanent retirement from football coaching".
Later life
Schulz worked in the insurance business, including as a state agent for an insurance company in Michigan, from 1924 until his death in 1951. After retiring from football in the early 1920s, Schulz led a private life, and little has been written about the last 30 years of his life. At the time of the 1930 United States Census, Schulz was living in Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
with his wife, Emilie V. Schulz (age 35), his mother-in-law, Emilie V. Sabovian (age 82), and his sister-in-law, Louise Sabovian. His occupation was listed in the 1930 Census as an insurance salesman.
Schulz died in 1951, less than two weeks after being selected as the center on the All-Time All-American Team. Schulz had undergone an operation for a "malignant ulcer
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
of the stomach" in February 1951 and suffered a relapse in April. He died at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital, the flagship facility for , is an 805-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex located in Detroit ....
at age 67.
See also
- List of Michigan Wolverines football All-Americans
- University of Michigan Athletic Hall of HonorUniversity of Michigan Athletic Hall of HonorThe University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...