73 Facts About Germany Schulz

Adolph George "Germany" Schulz was an All-American American football center for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1904 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1908.

In 1951, Germany Schulz was selected as the greatest center in football history in a poll conducted by the National Football Foundation and became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Germany Schulz has been inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor.

Germany Schulz eventually entered the insurance industry, where he enjoyed a long career.

Germany Schulz died in 1951, several days after being named the greatest center in football history by the College Football Foundation.

Germany Schulz was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of German immigrants.

Germany Schulz played football for Fort Wayne High School and was a member of amateur city teams for several years.

The suspicions were exacerbated by reports that Germany Schulz was a factory worker in an Indiana steel mill who had played for a half-dozen professional teams before enrolling at Michigan.

Germany Schulz ran down the street and rushed into his father's office, where he was introduced to Yost.

In September 1904, on his way to Ann Arbor, Michigan, Germany Schulz recalled that he stopped in Chicago, Illinois, where he spent four days drinking beer and generally having a "swell time".

When he arrived in Ann Arbor, Yost was furious and accused Germany Schulz of flirting with Amos Alonzo Stagg, the legendary coach of the University of Chicago.

Germany Schulz was immediately taken out to Michigan's training camp at Whitmore Lake and kept asking Yost when he was going to be allowed to register.

Sensitive to allegations that he was recruiting ringers, Yost denied having recruited Germany Schulz and claimed that Germany Schulz was just another student who tried out for the team.

Germany Schulz was the only freshman to play on Michigan's 1904 football team.

Germany Schulz began his playing career at Michigan as a guard, starting five games at that position.

The article noted: "Germany Schulz went to Ann Arbor practically green at the game, but by hard and consistent work he has succeeded in winning a place on the greatest team in America, and is the only freshman out of fifty who was able to do so".

Germany Schulz was one of the larger football players of his time and was known as a fierce hitter.

Germany Schulz liked to tell a story about an incident during Michigan's 1904 game against Oberlin College.

Germany Schulz is bigger and stronger than ever, and I do not know a man in the world that has it the least bit over him in the center position.

Germany Schulz is widely credited with two important innovations in the development of the modern game of American football.

Second, Germany Schulz is credited with being the first center to step back from the line while playing defense.

In 1905, Germany Schulz began dropping back from the line, enabling him to use his speed to move laterally and giving him greater coverage across the field of play.

In 1954, sports columnist Dave Lewis explored the history of the linebacker position, and concluded that Germany Schulz was the "first of the breed".

Lewis wrote: "Germany Schulz revolutionized defensive line play being the first to back up the line".

Germany Schulz recalled that the first time he stepped back from the line on defense, Coach Yost was horrified.

Some sources indicate that Germany Schulz missed the 1906 season for financial reasons.

Germany Schulz's father was a successful doctor, and contemporary reports indicate that Germany Schulz was ineligible to play in 1906 for academic reasons.

In February 1906, one paper reported that Germany Schulz had been "dropped from the rolls on account of poor work during the semester".

When Germany Schulz returned to the team in 1907, he was the talk of the campus.

In Michigan's game against Ohio State, Germany Schulz was reported to have been "a brick wall of defense" and "hard as nails".

Germany Schulz broke through the line repeatedly and stopped plays.

Germany Schulz was down under punts and in the open play showed as much speed as any player on the field.

Germany Schulz propels his massive frame at a speed that terrifies opponents.

Germany Schulz found himself in the middle of football's first eligibility controversy.

Germany Schulz complained amid the controversy about inaccurate reporting of his age.

In February 1908, the University announced that Germany Schulz was ineligible for the track team due to his performance on a semester exam in hydraulics.

In early October 1908, Germany Schulz had "three conditions in the engineering course, more than a player can carry and continue his athletic relations".

Germany Schulz ultimately had his eligibility restored in late October and was greeted with "cheers from the bleachers" when he appeared in his first practice on October 22,1908.

In one of the few contemporaneous accounts, the Toledo Blade wrote that the Penn players, knowing that Germany Schulz was "the power in the Michigan game", focused their energy on wearing him down.

Germany Schulz's "face was distorted with bumps", and there were "welts on his back and groin".

Germany Schulz went into the play and for an instant, his strength came back, but it couldn't last, and it didn't.

Germany Schulz is both wonderfully agile and fast for a man of his size.

Germany Schulz was the star of the contest until the continued battering of our men injured him to such an extent that he had to retire.

Lewis concluded: "Never before or since has there been such a one-man show of defensive football as Germany Schulz displayed against Penn".

Germany Schulz selected Schulz as his center, the first of many such All-Time All-American selections for Schulz.

Germany Schulz won the great majority of the votes at center and thus became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame.

On being told of his selection, Germany Schulz, who died ten days later, said he was honored and noted: "I haven't missed one of those teams yet".

Germany Schulz was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1960.

Germany Schulz was posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1979.

In 1909 and 1910, Germany Schulz played briefly in the infant Tri-State professional football league operating in Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

At the time of the 1910 United States Census, Germany Schulz was listed as residing with his parents in Fort Wayne, and his occupation was listed as being an engineer with an electric works.

The Oakwoods made Germany Schulz an offer to return in 1910 as the team's captain, but contemporaneous press accounts indicate he was weighing the remuneration to be paid by the Oakwoods against his steady job at the Fort Wayne Electric works.

In December 1910, Germany Schulz did play on an all-star team against the All-Harvard club in a game in Memphis, Tennessee, for the benefit of the United Charities association.

In 1911 and 1912, Germany Schulz worked as the line coach for the University of Wisconsin.

Germany Schulz held that position for three seasons from 1913 to 1915.

In 1913, Germany Schulz developed a new blocking technique by shifting one of the linemen.

Coach Yost was unconvinced until Germany Schulz performed a demonstration using Michigan's left guard Royce Traphagen.

Germany Schulz first put Traphagen in the line position designated by Yost, Germany Schulz lined up on the other side of the line and charged, "almost wrecking Traphagen".

Two days after her death, Germany Schulz announced that he was withdrawing from the Michigan coaching staff, though it was noted at the time that several Midwestern universities were working to get Germany Schulz as their head coach.

In January 1916, the Fort Wayne Sentinel reported that Germany Schulz was back to work at his old position in the general testing room at the Fort Wayne Electric works, after an absence of two years.

In September 1916, Germany Schulz returned to coaching as the assistant athletic director at Kansas State Agricultural College, now known as Kansas State University.

Germany Schulz was assigned to direct athletic exercises for the men serving at the camp.

At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Germany Schulz was listed as an athletic coach living in Manhattan, Kansas.

In 1920, Germany Schulz arranged for the Tulane football team to play Michigan as part of the most extensive trip made to that point by a southern football team.

In December 1922, Germany Schulz was hired as head football coach at the University of Detroit.

Shortly after his appointment, Germany Schulz announced that he was looking for "eleven raving maniacs" to fill out his team, a phrase that was picked up in wire service reports around the country.

Germany Schulz noted: "You can't beat eleven raving maniacs with football heads".

In September 1923, the press reported that Germany Schulz suffered a shoulder injury while demonstrating proper tackling technique on a tackling "dummy".

Germany Schulz worked in the insurance business, including as a state agent for The Medical Protective Company in Michigan, from 1924 until his death in 1951.

At the time of the 1930 United States Census, Schulz was living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife, Emilie V Schulz, his mother-in-law, Emilie V Sabovian, and his sister-in-law, Louise Sabovian.

Germany Schulz's occupation was listed in the 1930 Census as an insurance salesman.

Germany Schulz died in 1951, less than two weeks after being selected as the center on the All-Time All-American Team.

Germany Schulz had undergone an operation for a "malignant ulcer of the stomach" in February 1951 and suffered a relapse in April.