Schulte honored on “Wall of Fame” for 2019
It’s been 30 years since a car accident paralyzed 10-year-old Paul Schulte.
You could say that paralysis took away his dreams of playing sports. Or you can put it like Paul did, himself, in a Facebook post last week: “(Thirty) years ago I gained my paralysis from a car accident. In the time that followed, friends, mentors, and teachers throughout this little town helped me kindle dreams and foster hope that eventually contributed to my efforts toward an athletic career.”
That kind of positive thinking has been a hallmark of Paul’s life and career over the past three decades. As soon as he could get out of the house after his recovery from the accident, he was out on the basketball courts at Kirk Park practicing his shots and his speed. “I remember, day after day, pushing my basketball wheelchair as hard and as fast as my body could take through Manchester‘s parks and streets. I was taught to work HARDER than I thought I could and to build up teammates everywhere I had them,” he recalled in his post.
That’s exactly what Paul’s been doing ever since. He found them on the Grand Rapids Junior Pacers, where he and his teammates won two Varsity Division National Championships during his high school years, and Paul was named the National Most Valuable Player in his senior year. At the University of Texas at Arlington, where he was awarded a full scholarship to play wheelchair basketball and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. During his senior year of college, Paul’s team won the Intercollegiate Championship, with Paul receiving Most Valuable Player, Academic All-American, and Sportsmanship honors. UT-Arlington later retired the jersey #20 in his honor.
He continued to find new teammates as he furthered his wheelchair basketball career when he was invited to play on the US Men’s Paralympic team. He won a position on the team and went on to become a three-time Paralympian, competing in Sydney Australia, Beijing China, and London England. Paul also became a two-time world champion on Team USA and in 2002 was named most valuable player at the World Championships in Japan. He went on to become a five-time National Champion in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association and was named Most Valuable Player three of those times.
For his accomplishments, he was nominated for both the Laureus and ESPY awards as Best Male Athlete with a Disability.
Through all of this, Paul’s most important teammates have been his family and his faith. His parents, Tom and Carol Schulte, have always been his biggest fans and promoters. His wife and high school sweetheart, Meghan (Greenwald) Schulte, and their 9-year-old son Brady, have also been staunch supporters of Paul’s paralympic career, his subsequent role as an NBC commentator during the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, and of course his “day job” as a design engineer for Invacare Top End, headquartered in the Tampa area, where he currently leads (yet another) team–this one comprised of engineers dedicated to developing adaptive sports equipment for the next generation of Paralympians.
On Thursday night prior to the Clinton varsity football opener, Paul was one of the inductees to the 2019 Wall of Fame at Manchester High School. Wes Gall, former coach and Athletic Director, introduced the Athletic Achievement Award, which was newly created this year.
“The Wall of Fame added a new award this year,” Gall said. “The Athletic Achievement Award is for a Manchester graduate who played in a sport not sponsored by the Manchester schools. This special recognition goes to a person who followed their passion and excelled at the highest level to bring honor to our school and community. I don’t think there is a better recipient for this award than Paul Schulte … (as you listen to) his bio, think about the courage, hard work, and dedication it took to do what he achieved.”
“It was pretty awesome to be honored in this way,” Paul said on Friday. “I was so amazed when Wes Gall reached out to me, and this has been a great trip home to Manchester. I was up here for a week or so earlier this summer, but when I got the call from Wes, Meghan said, ‘Of course you have to go.’ I got to see a lot of classmates and friends who came out to support me; and I got a tour of the ‘new’ high school, which was extra special as I had not had the opportunity to see it before.”
“Thank you to my hometown … Manchester, Michigan.”
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