Sports
Ohio’s Greenlee Experiences Foxcatcher
< < Back toAt the 2015 Oscars, Foxcatcher probably got the most attention any film about wrestling ever had. The film was nominated for five academy awards, including awards for the best lead male actor and the best male supporting actor. Although it didn’t win an Oscar, it was still a movie well received by critics. Ohio wrestling head coach Joel Greenlee is no movie critic, but he’s actually a pretty qualified judge when it comes this particular film.
That’s because he had his own experiences with John du Pont and Mark and Dave Schultz, the main characters of the movie, which is based on the true story of millionaire du Pont, his relationship with the Schultz brothers – two U.S. wrestling legends – and du Pont’s murder of Dave.
Before the Bobcat coach arrived in Athens, he competed on the U.S. national wrestling team alongside Mark and Dave. Even before that, Greenlee knew Dave from his college days at Northern Iowa, when Schultz would train with the Panthers.
As a member of Team USA, Greenlee spent about two to three months a year at du Pont’s Foxcatcher Farm in Newtown Square, Penn., from 1988 to 1995. His stays usually lasted one to two weeks at a time.
At the time, du Pont’s complex was the premier training facility for U.S. wrestlers. World-Team and Olympic training camps were held there for the national team.
I sat down with Greenlee in his office at The Convocation Center and had a long talk with him about the film, including his thoughts on the acting of Steve Carrell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum, and his experiences with the real people portrayed in the film.
Andrew Gaug: What did you think of the actors’ performances?
Joel Greenlee: Pretty good in all honesty. Pretty right on. Dave Schultz walked the way [Ruffalo] walked. He talked and acted just like Dave. Dave was a happy-go-lucky guy. Mark was more standoffish and he didn’t speak much to anybody, and du Pont was du Pont.
AG: How well did you know Mark, Dave and du Pont?
JG: I knew Dave the best out of all of them. I knew Mark a little bit. Du Pont—we knew who each other were. We had conversations together but he’s not a guy I would call on the phone and say “what’s up?” We were cordial. We had conversations. I’d been in his house but it wasn’t like we were good friends.
AG: What are some of your lasting memories of Dave?
JG: When I was in college he used to come out to Northern Iowa and trained with us every year, two or three different times. My lasting memories are around training. He was probably one of the best technicians ever in wrestling. Unbelievably friendly guy. He wanted to make the sport better. He didn’t keep any secrets to himself. He tried to help everybody. When I was at Northern Iowa he would come and train with us and he was an odd-ball … Schultz would be wearing these shorty-short, kind of cross country shorts basically, and no shirt, combat boots untied. And all of the sudden he’d take off out of the office, right out front the gym – which is kind of the main entrance to the whole school – and he’d be running in circles, doing pull-ups on trees and students are walking by, staring at him and thinking, “who’s this nut-job?”
AG: What are some of your lasting memories of Mark or John?
JG: Mark would be silent. And ferocious. He didn’t say a whole lot to anybody. He came in. Worked his tail off. Did damage and left. He really didn’t say anything to anybody. He was that way with everybody. For du Pont – he was always in the blue and gold Foxcatcher warm up. He was in that thing every day. All day, every tournament, for days on end. That was his attire.
AG: How odd and peculiar was du Pont?
JG: It’s kind of sad from the standpoint of; he was real insecure, and real eccentric. That’s the best word I can think of. He wanted to fit in. He wanted to be like everyone that wrestled but he just couldn’t do it. He wanted us to call him “The Eagle” or “Golden Eagle.” … He would sit there talking to you and “see” things [and ask you if you saw them too]. There were times where he would have weights taken out of the training center because [he thought] it was possessed. That’s probably $20,000 worth of weight equipment that he moved out and brought brand new stuff in. There were things hiding in the walls in his house [he thought]. He was out there.”
AG: What did he know about wrestling?
JG: Nothing.
AG: So why did his facility become the place to be for USA wrestlers?
JG: Obviously there was a lot of bad that came out of it as far as Dave being murdered but at the same time there was a lot of good that came out of it. At the time amateur wrestling was really amateur wrestling. You competed and you weren’t getting a monthly stipend from USA wrestling or anybody. Maybe you had a club [like] Sunkist Kids, New York AC, or the California Jets that would pay your expenses to and from these tournaments but other than that you were an assistant coach or part-time training trying to make an Olympic or World team. Well he came in and started paying those guys. He was paying Mark and Dave and probably started paying more guys – about 20 – and paying them good money. Then he started giving money to USA wrestling and they started giving guys stipends to the top three in every weight class. I think he advanced wrestling a little bit. His track record was being part of something his whole life. Then when he got tired of it he moved on. Modern pentathlon was first, then swimming and then wrestling at the end. He just wanted to be successful and be liked and part of a group, I think.
AG: What are some scenes from the film that stand out to you?
JG: I think when du Pont came into the training facility and shot the gun through the roof. I think early on he was happier to be more a part of it but as it went through the years people were less accepting of his eccentric ways … That meant something from the standpoint that that should have given everyone a heads up. I knew guy after guy who moved off the farm because he had pulled a gun on them at some point. That was the start of it all.
AG: What do you think the lasting legacy of John du Pont is?
JG: I don’t think it matters what he did in the first 90 percent of his life I think it matters what he did at the end and that it is he was a crazy man that murdered a guy. Didn’t know he was a drug addict. Suspected he was an alcoholic but didn’t know he was snorting coke. This guy has mental problems. He probably needed help … He [seemed] harmless. As you got into it, you realized he was not harmless. “Eh, it’s just John. He doesn’t mean to be mean,” [but] in all honesty he’s a murderer. When he first started everyone put up with it. Four or five years in, if he stops practice you’re annoyed. He finally saw it as Dave Schultz was taking the spotlight of the Eagle, and this is how the Eagle is going to get the spotlight back.