CHARLOTTESVILLE — When Michael Gaylan first met Clayton Shultz eight years ago, he felt like he’d known him forever.
All it took was handshake and smile. Shultz just had that knack with people. A persona larger than his 6-foot-5 frame could contain, Shultz made certain he made whomever was in his presence a priority, a friend.
It was Shultz’s way. He was a giver, passionate about Eastern Hancock Schools and athletics where he graduated in the late 90s and later became a role model as a former three-sport student-athlete and a three-sport coach.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe no-nonsense in-school suspension coordinator loved his Eastern Hancock Royals, and they loved him back.
“I was talking to couple of his former players, and they knew no matter what he did. No matter what he said. That love was always there. Everything he did, he did with love, and to build that kind of relationship with kids and people in general is just incredible,” Gaylan said.
On Tuesday afternoon, after Shultz, 42, died inside his home in Morristown following his second bout with cancer, the community mourned the gentle giant they called “Shultzy.”
Stories of his impact and interactions with colleagues, students and nearly 20 years of student-athletes flowed as naturally as the courage he personified daily, especially during his first battle with lymphoma that began around Easter of last year.
His courageous spirit powered his fight to remission in December before the cancer returned in late February.
“I’ve never met somebody who has, even with the cancer, the kind of energy that he always had every single day,” Gaylan said. “The first time going through it, he was doing it for his family. He was doing it the kids at school. He was doing it for everything. The energy he had every time I went to see him in the hospital, even when it was really bleak, he always just had that I’m going to beat it, I’m going to get this thing attitude. He was just going to keep fighting.”
‘He loved those kids’
Shultz had two modes as a coach. And both stemmed from his heart. The head track coach at Eastern Hancock High School, the defensive coordinator for the football team and a middle school basketball coach, Shultz set the standards high.
And, he was able to get results by forming bonds.
Gaylan witnessed Shultz’s ability to connect with kids firsthand, admiring his friend as an offensive coordinator for the football team. Shultz wouldn’t hold back whether an athlete reached their potential or still had room to grow.
“The relationships he was able to build with kids, I envy that because I would see him on the practice field and absolutely light somebody up. Chew them up one side and down the other like you wouldn’t believe. And then, two minutes later, he’s giving them a hug, and they loved him for it. They respected him for it,” Gaylan said.
Former Eastern Hancock football coach Jim O’Hara took over the Royals’ program in 2014 after spending several state championship seasons at Cathedral during his career.
With Shultz at his side through 2017, O’Hara knew exactly where his assistant coach’s focus was day-in and day-out.
“He loved those kids. His whole life was about coaching. He coached three sports. He coached football, middle school basketball and then track and with the new rules, football starts in the summer, so he never had time off,” O’Hara said. “His love and devotion to Eastern Hancock, his whole family; I’ve never seen anything like it. The passion and dedication to the school he had. It was the center of their life.”
Royals means family
The wins on Friday nights were always sweet for Shultz, but his family’s dedication to the Royals meant more than the numbers on the scoreboard.
As a former South All-Star in football, Shultz wanted nothing more than to see others succeed, and with his father, Doug, serving as an assistant football coach alongside him, it brought his two worlds together.
With his oldest son, Connor, a senior this year, on the team, Shultz was home every second of every day.
O’Hara recalls the elation in Shultz’s and Doug’s eyes in 2014 when the Royals won the program’s 10th sectional championship and second straight with both father and son hoisting the trophy.
“The thing I loved the most about Clayton was his relationship with his father. To see the two of them working together and coaching and enjoying themselves by helping other people will be something I’ll never forget,” said O’Hara, who retired from coaching in 2017.
“They both liked the (Chicago) Bears, and they both liked the Los Angeles Dodgers. They just enjoyed each other and it was a special bond. I have a son that coaches, and I get it.”
‘I’m going to keep fighting’
Shultz’s first fight with cancer was grueling. He started to feel ill in April of last year, and the symptoms refused to subside.
Pains in his stomach led to CT scans, blood work, loss of appetite and several diagnoses before the agony he faced was too much to bear.
A large mass discovered in his abdomen revealed the cause: Shultz had an aggressive form of cancer, Burkitt lymphoma, which can spread to the brain. Burkitt lymphoma is rare with approximately 1,200 cases diagnosed per year.
After eight months of treatment, chemotherapy, moments of uncertainty and recovery, a miracle happened happened in December. The scans were clear. The cancer had gone into remission.
Shultz was able to return home to his wife Amber and their three children. He went back to work in January and was coaching gain while being with his close friends and fellow coaches Gaylan, Brett Bechtel and Joe Paxton. His life finally returned to normal until late February.
“It was around Feb. 20, and he was just sitting there in the hall and kept holding his head. He said, ‘My head hurts.’ We told him, ‘Oh, you have a sinus headache.’ But he looked at us and said, ‘No, I think my cancer is back,’” Gaylan recalled. “He went in that day for a CT scan, and they started chemotherapy two days later.”
The cancer reappeared in the lining of his brain, and his health deteriorated quickly. Gaylan, who asked Shultz to be a groomsman in his wedding in 2015, and the community were devastated.
The hashtag #ShultzStrong echoed the community’s support on social media, while Shultz went in and out of hospitals in an attempt to beat his cancer once again.
“It was devastating because you knew the second time around was going to be 10 times tougher. It was from elation to total devastation in just a matter of months,” O’Hara said.
Showing Shultzy Love
With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic accelerating in mid-March, Shultz was unable to have many visitors while he was admitted into the hospital.
Gaylan and other planned to see Shultz as his prognosis grew worse by the day through early March.
By late April, Shultz was set to be transferred to hospice care, and he returned home last weekend.
Due to the Coronavirus, Shultz’s friends knew they couldn’t see him in person, so Gaylan’s wife, Jade, and O’Hara came up with a plan.
“My wife and O’Hara were talking and O said, ‘We ought to do this. Get everybody to drive by his house.’ So, my wife got on Facebook and she really started sending it out to everybody. It really took off from there,” Gaylan said.
On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of people arrived at the neighboring Morristown Jr/Sr High School before forming a parade line that passed by Shultz’s residence. Holding up signs and honking as they cruised past, the outpouring of support was a tribute to Shultz’s unconditional love for them.
“I thought, let’s just drive by his house, and Jade put it out there on social media, and you had 200 people. That’s how that community is. They’re close-knit and they’re loyal,” O’Hara said. “They do love each other and that’s what we need in these trying times we’re going through right now.”
How Can We Grieve?
When news spread that Shultz had passed away on Tuesday, many wanted to reach out to the family and find a way to mourn together, but with Coronavirus and social distancing a factor, that wasn’t possible.
“When I talked to the football players yesterday on Zoom, almost every single kid said, ‘I wish we were at school right now.’ It’s hard,” Galyan said. “That what they kept saying, the No. 1 thing, they just wanted to be there in person.”
Gaylan understood, too, unable to tell his friend goodbye in person.
“With all this virus stuff, he’s been in and out of the hospital, and with him being in and out, we weren’t able to go see him,” Gaylan said. “We drove by on Sunday and waved at him there, but to actually sit down and talk to him was back in February. We talked on the phone and texted, but it’s just not the same.”
In response, Eastern Hancock athletics director Aaron Spaulding and superintendent Dave Pfaff decided to turn on the football stadium lights in honor of Shultz on Tuesday night. The other three county high schools did the same in tribute.
“It’s kind of fitting they had the lights on at the stadium last night. His dad lives on one side of the interstate and he lived on the other side, and then you had that stadium where he spent so much time coaching football and track. It was right in the middle,” O’Hara said. “It was a tremendous tribute to him. They loved Clayton, and they took care of him, and he took care of them.”
Shultz’s favorite thing when he saw family and friends. Hugging. A big bear hug.
“Clayton was a big personality. Obviously, he was a big man, but he had a tremendous personality and was very passionate. I don’t know if we’ll see someone again who was that passionate about Eastern Hancock. He really cared,” Spaulding said.
Services will be private due to the global pandemic, but several people drove past the Royals football field and parked nearby while the lights shined in the night sky to pay their respects to Shultz.
“The hard thing about it is that we can’t hug each other. Clayton was a big hugger, a big teddy bear. He was a very lovable guy, and now we’re all stuck in our own homes and we need to hug each other,” O’Hara said. “That’s tough.”
Spaulding believes once the pandemic subsides and social limitations are lifted, the school could host a service for Shultz, who is survived by his children Connor, Zach and Abi, along with his wife, Amber.
For the time being, Eastern Hancock intends to retire his football number (79).
“Sooner or later, and I don’t know when it’s going to be, we’re going to have a big celebration of life. It might be six months from now, I don’t know, but we’ll come together,” Spaulding said.
