John Schultz

Who is John Schultz?

John Schultz is a former Australian rules football player, who played for the Footscray Football Club in the Victorian Football League and is one of the club's greatest players.

He had been a champion high-jumper at Caulfield Grammar School, winning the senior high jump at the 1955 Associated Grammar Schools Combined Athletics Meeting. He also played for the school's First XVIII, a team which also contained other future VFL players, Ron Evans of Essendon, and Ron Cabble of Hawthorn.

John Schultz was considered a "gentle giant", known as much for his fairness as for his brilliance. An effective knock ruckman, he was acclaimed for good tackling, elegant marking and hard, fair bumping. Roy Wright, another "gentle giant" and Brownlow medallist, helped him early in his career: "after lining up on Roy Wright in one of my first matches, he came to the dressing rooms after the match and gave me a few hints on things I did and didn't do right". Compared with others of his day, Schultz had exceptional stamina and he seemed to be able to run just as quickly at the end of a match as he had at its beginning.