Spotlight: Ted Schultz

There is likely nobody in the world that knows more about Grinnell athletics than Ted Schultz. In addition to writing recaps for every game a Pioneer team participates in and being responsible for up keeping the Pioneers’ website, Schultz is also an avid sports fan and road biker. In other words, Ted Schultz lives and breathes sports. Sports is not all Schultz is interested in, so the S&B’s Editor-in-Chief Yishi Liang ’16 sat down with him to discuss sports, life and cooking.

How long have you been working at Grinnell?

I started here in 2007.

What have you been doing in the eight years you’ve been here?

Basically, I maintain the College’s athletic website, including writing the stories, posting the stories, posting the results, which in itself is a full time job. But then I also report our results and our news to the media and to the NCAA, and if we’re hosting a team, to the opposing sports information director.

What were you doing before?

I was working at a newspaper for 20 years. I really kind of did everything in newspaper during my time. I was a sports editor at a daily paper. I was a managing editor at a small weekly paper. I’ve sold ads. I’ve done pretty much everything.

What is your favorite sport to report on at Grinnell?

Favorite’s tough. I have to admit, though, the one that we’ve received the most recognition for is men’s basketball, obviously. So, that’s probably kept me the busiest. I actually like them all for different reasons, but men’s basketball has been the one that has really put us in the spotlight, per se … International attention, actually.

Have you had to send information abroad to different news sources?

Oh, yeah, especially when Jack Taylor had his 138-point game. We had a request from Australia for an interview. We had a magazine, a Chinese sports magazine that did a story on him. No one can read it … but they had sent a copy. I’m not even sure where it’s at right now, but it was cool to get that sent to us.

What is your favorite sport personally, to play or watch?

I’m a big football fan, to watch … In high school and college, I was a runner so cross country and track. I do like playing basketball, too, though … so, those sports are probably the main ones I enjoy. And football, there’s really not much of an opportunity for me to play it [now], but when I was growing up, I loved it, too.

If you could go to one sport’s championship, what would it be?

I’d go to the Super Bowl.

What are your predictions for this upcoming season?

Well, I would like to say the Pittsburgh Steelers because I’m a big Steelers fan, but that’s not going to happen … That’s a tough one, I’m just going to go with the Steelers.

Is there anything that you do that people don’t know about?

Well, one thing I do a lot—some people know this, but not a lot people—I’m a big bicyclist. I’ve done the ride across Iowa 11 times in the summer … A lot of times I’ll take the trail routes. I live out of town, so sometimes I’ll take the highway. Though sometimes that’s a little dicey, because sometimes cars don’t really like bicyclists.

And anything outside of athletics?

I enjoy cooking, actually … I love making pasta dishes … hamburger, chicken dishes. I really enjoy that. I probably do most of the cooking at home compared to my wife.

Is there anything else you want to mention?

Probably my favorite part of my job here is interacting with the student athletes. I’ve told people often the worst part is the weird hours, a lot of weekends, a lot of nights … But I can watch [the athletes] compete on the field or the court, but a lot of them also do work for me in their off-season. …  A lot of the basketball players work for me, some of the football players work for me so that’s nice to see them in a different light, see them grow and mature.

When the sports teams have their alumni weekends, do you participate in that?

That is awesome, whenever those people come [back]. Like basketball, a lot of the alums were back because young coach Dave Arseneault was getting married, and I got to see a lot of guys at his wedding reception that I hadn’t seen for a long time. It’s really neat to see them … It’s just fun to see how they’ve progressed in their life.