The Schultzes were one of three sets of brothers (the others are Buvaisar and Adam Saitiev, and Anatoli and Sergei Beloglazov) to win both World and Olympic championships.

[2][3] His paternal grandparents were Estelle (Bernstein), the daughter of a prominent paper company executive, and Maxwell L. Schultz, a business consultant.

[4][5] His maternal grandparents were Dorothy (Starks), a radiologist who graduated from Stanford Medical School #1 in her class, and Willis Rich, a Stanford ichthyology professor, inventor of the salmon ladder and discoverer of the "home stream theory" that salmon return to the rivers where they were born in order to spawn before they die.

[6][7] As a young child, Dave was overweight (nicknamed "Pudge"), and was often bullied at school by classmates for his weight and appearance.

[2] Wrestling two weight classes above his normal division, Schultz pinned all his opponents in the state championships but the last, whom he defeated 12–1 in the final match.

In 1982, he was the 167-pound weight class NCAA Champion defeating Mike Sheets from Oklahoma State University in the finals by criteria tie-breaker in overtime.

In international competition, Schultz won a 1983 World Championship[9] and a 1984 Olympic gold medal, competing with the United States team.

Schultz won the gold medal at the 74 kg weight class over Martin Knosp from West Germany.

[2] Schultz trained at the Foxcatcher center while preparing for another Olympic bid, as well as coaching the wrestling team.

Schultz's surviving family included his wife Nancy, his son Alexander, his daughter Danielle, his siblings, and both parents.

Schultz's father Philip told The New York Times that "the fact that he's officially gone is almost a moot point.

After Schultz's murder, 20 former Foxcatcher athletes were left without training or coaching resources six months before the 1996 Olympic Games.