Chris Schultz has passed away

[Will]

A sad day for the CFL and for the Toronto Argonauts! Schultz was an all-time Argo LT from 1986 to 1994.

He will be missed!

I’m devastated to learn that our friend Chris Schultz died of a heart attack yesterday.
He was 61.
Schultzy was larger than life in so many ways...
CFL and NFL.
He played in both.
He covered both.
He loved both.
His life was a football life.
One I’ll never forget.
RIP Big Man pic.twitter.com/CJmggtdBCt

— Rod Smith (@RodSmithTSN) March 5, 2021

[gilthethrill]

Absolutely stunned when I received the news by phone from argo57. Doesn’t seem real.

[Mightygoose]

Really sad to hear and so sudden. Not very young either at 61.

RIP Chris

[Will]

A statement from Pinball on Chris Schultz.

[shayman]

I remember hearing him say that in all his years as a pro, he never touched the ball. Never recovered a fumble, never even picked up the ball after the whistle to hand it to the referee.

That comment stuck with me somehow. You can love football without ever touching the ball. Thank you Chris. Rest in peace.

[Will]

When you watch highlights of the Argos from 1990 and 1991 one notes how effectively Schultz and the offensive line protected Matt Dunigan and Rickey Foggie. A crucial part in the Argos averaging 40 points a game.

[Antwon]

This hurts! Such a pleasure to watch play and as part of the broadcast team. Missed him the last few years.
Condolences to his family and friends. Gone too early but never will be forgotten.

[Harding 77]

Wow, same age as me. I had the pleasure of running into Chris at the Appleby GO station on several occasions. He was always friendly and up for a chat. Most recently it was game day when Terry Greer was signing autographs at the Shipyard. He asked me if i could tell Greer to pop up to the booth to see him during the game. I passed that along to Terry when he signed my jersey. I hope he followed up!

[OV Argo]

RIP Chris - an all-time great Argo.

[AngeloV]

Very sad to hear this. By all accounts a terrific person. May he RIP.

[paulwoods13]

This is terribly sad news. Chris was one of the greatest Argos of all time, and one of the greatest football broadcasters as well. He was an astute analyst whose insights helped shape (and some of which will appear in) my book about the Argos of the early 1990s. I interviewed him two or three times; each time I came away with much greater appreciation and/or perspective about some individual or issue we discussed.

A few other thoughts:

He was studious; long after the locker room had cleared out after practice, he and fellow tackle Kelvin Pruenster would be in there watching game film and learning the nuances of the guys they had to block. Then they'd hit the weights together.

He was not a "typical" member of the 1991 Argos. He thought the Newjack pre-game dance-and-strut ritual the team happily indulged in that year was a "ridiculous" way to get ready to play. "My attitude was to be a robot," he told me. "I always had to be under control. Other players were more emotionally involved. That's not where my head is at. I'm in a zone. A totally different zone."

He stood up for his teammates, once getting ejected during the first quarter of an exhibition game (!) because he and Bob Skemp got into a fight with Tyrone Jones and Greg Battle. He also once threatened to lay a beating on Jones when the latter came into the Argo locker room looking for an autograph from Rocket Ismail.

He could also be rough on teammates, if they rubbed him the wrong way. He swore at Pinball the first time he met him because he could not believe any human could be that nice and that genuine. "I quickly learned, that is who he is," he told me. "Within a month I was like, this guy is for real. He is that positive about everything, about life." The day after the exhibition game ejection, he was groaning at practice. A teammate who shall remain nameless said, "Why are you tired? You didn’t even play." A glaring Schultz started towards the guy, and had to be calmed down by other teammates: "No, Schultzy, take it easy. He didn’t mean that, he’s just talking."

[Will]

This is terribly sad news. Chris was one of the greatest Argos of all time, and one of the greatest football broadcasters as well. He was an astute analyst whose insights helped shape (and some of which will appear in) my book about the Argos of the early 1990s. I interviewed him two or three times; each time I came away with much greater appreciation and/or perspective about some individual or issue we discussed.

A few other thoughts:

He was studious; long after the locker room had cleared out after practice, he and fellow tackle Kelvin Pruenster would be in there watching game film and learning the nuances of the guys they had to block. Then they'd hit the weights together.

He was not a "typical" member of the 1991 Argos. He thought the Newjack pre-game dance-and-strut ritual the team happily indulged in that year was a "ridiculous" way to get ready to play. "My attitude was to be a robot," he told me. "I always had to be under control. Other players were more emotionally involved. That's not where my head is at. I'm in a zone. A totally different zone."

He stood up for his teammates, once getting ejected during the first quarter of an exhibition game (!) because he and Bob Skemp got into a fight with Tyrone Jones and Greg Battle. He also once threatened to lay a beating on Jones when the latter came into the Argo locker room looking for an autograph from Rocket Ismail.

He could also be rough on teammates, if they rubbed him the wrong way. He swore at Pinball the first time he met him because he could not believe any human could be that nice and that genuine. "I quickly learned, that is who he is," he told me. "Within a month I was like, this guy is for real. He is that positive about everything, about life." The day after the exhibition game ejection, he was groaning at practice. A teammate who shall remain nameless said, "Why are you tired? You didn’t even play." A glaring Schultz started towards the guy, and had to be calmed down by other teammates: "No, Schultzy, take it easy. He didn’t mean that, he’s just talking."

Don't forget the Bruce Holmes hit on Rickey Foggie where Schultz stood up for his QB.

[jerrym]

I loved him on the field and in the booth.

[Shatto]

A great human being and player. Left us way too earlier. Rest in peace, Chris, we will miss you.

[doubleblue]

A great human being and player. Left us way too earlier. Rest in peace, Chris, we will miss you.

Couldn't have said it any better. I loved Shultzie.

[ArgoFan1]

This news hit me hard. I've always been a huge fan of Chris Schultz. Loved the way he played and then loved him even more as a broadcaster. Really loved the brand new words he would always seem to come up with. Always so eager to hear him on the radio on Football Fridays with Mike Hogan. Those were the golden days of radio for me. I've really missed him on the TV broadcasts, but I always thought and hoped that he would be returning. Truly a sad day for all football fans. My condolences to all his friends and family..... and that includes his football family.

[j-ski]

I once talked with him for about 15 minutes in an airport when I was on my way home from a Grey Cup. He seemed like a good dude, and a big supporter of Canadians in the CFL.

[Argo57]

The Argonaut and CFL community lost a great man.
A few years ago I coached my son’s flag football team in Burlington, during the playoffs Chris Schultz and Craig Butler showed up on a Saturday morning to spend time with the kids who were thrilled to meet both of them, wonderful down to earth guys who both cared about and gave back to the community that they lived in.
My deepest condolences to his family and friends.

[Nob]

I am beyond belief with the passing of Chris.

When I lived in Burlington in the mid 90’s I was a coach in the Burlington minor football program. Schultzy coached with us. We were just a bunch of guys coaching, and he was a football all-star, but you’d never know that. He was so great to be around. You could tell right away when you met him that he was special and he made you feel the same way.

I remember having his playing card with the Argos. I brought it to practice one day and told him that he should show the kids. He took the cards, was amazed that he had a playing card, and was too modest to show the kids his cards (and the funny part was that I never got them back from him!).

We took our team to Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving weekend for an exhibition game there. We decided that instead of handing in the hotel with a bunch of 11 and 12 year old kids that we would go in to town and catch the Penguins game. We had a blast.

The other thing that I always laugh about when thinking about Chris is that no matter how many times he met my wife during the time we coached together he could never, ever, remember my wife’s name. He was always so apologetic about forgetting her name, and my wife and I always laughed about it every night on the way back from practice. When I told her today about his passing we laughed one more time. “He did have trouble with names”. That was always our running joke about Chris.

This hit me hard today. I haven’t seen him in about 25 years. He wouldn’t remember me (and certainly wouldn’t remember my name), but I’ll never forget him.

Thanks for letting me remember him here.

[OV Argo]

Started watching the 91 GC game on YouTube - to get to watch the great Schultzie in action; still say that 91 Argo GC team could match-up with the great 96/97 teams - maybe better overall talent on D; scary talent in the receiving corps (DK Smith, the Rocket, David Williams and Masotti (just emerging as a receiver force); studs on the O-line in Schultz, Ferrone & Beckstead; and Dunigan maybe not Flutie but close in all-time CFL QB talent, IMO; has another CFL team ever had as dangerous a return duo of Pinball & the Rocket available ? Chomyck was a great place kicker back then (but did miss an easily makeable FG early in the game) plus the booming punt leg of Hank the Shank (not a good FG kicker); but Vanderjagt was pretty excellent in a dual role for the 96/97 teams

Notes:

= great era of CFL ball 80s into the early 90s; freezing cold but jam packed crowd in the Peg

- loved the bravado of the Argo D in the player intros - all walking out calmly in the cold with their helmets held high - remember that (watching on TV) like it was yesterday !





- Wayner Gretzky - Argo part owner - interviewed early in the game on the sidelines (RIP Walter)

- these were 2 pass first offences; Stumps offence going mostly empty backfield / 6 pack on offence ( i'm only in the first half so far; they did introduce Keyvan Jenkins & Andy McVey (very solid fullback) as starters, but they weren't on the field much - love to see some CFL teams go to that look now as a change of pace; Huff was the OC for the Stumps then under Wally (?); but the Argo D seemed to stick mostly in standard 4-3 in response ? good thing it was the average at best Danny Barrett at QB for them and not that Flutie guy who led them to GC win the very next season

- counting 10 Canadian Argo starters in the game: 5 O-linemen (CFL time when most O-lines were composed of only Canadians) + Masotti & Kevin Smellie (another solid fullback); and on D - Mike Campbell, Don Moen & David Bovell (at safety - Argos picked him up from the Bummers where he had been a star D player on their GC team the previous season; faded away to a short CFL career ?) = CFL dupe "fans" & media now who complain about Canadian talent & "ratio problems" should be force fed to watch this era of CFL ball, IMO

- Chris Schultz injured in the first half - went down low to just smoke the Stamps DE (Cofield ?) on the play, but caught his thigh in the head - seemed almost knocked -out and took awhile to get up off the turf



Anyhow - great Argo memories, and again - RIP Mr. Schultz; gotta get back to watching the remainder of that great Argo game !