“Underhook! Underhook!”
It’s a classic wrestling tactic, used to control an opponent. Over the course of his 50-year career, Coach Rich “Schu” Schumacher has hollered the instruction at his students many times, as they’ve struggled to gain leverage over their fellow combatants.
Now he’s joking with his colleague, coach Cliff Ramos, as Ramos wrestles Schu out of a wheelchair and up onto his feet.
Schumacher, 66, pauses to catch his breath, each hand holding onto the arm of a movie theater chair. He’s taking in an afternoon feature at the AMC Colonial, in Lawrenceville, just a few miles from his home.
It is a short trip, but a tough fight. Lowering himself into the leather theater chair takes all the strength in his 6-foot-2 body, and his breath rattles in his throat.
Then comes the inevitable quip: “Believe it or not, I used to take down 350-pound heavyweights,” he laughs — a defiant gesture in the face of his illness.
Schumacher, a great high school and college wrestler, began to pay it forward 10 years ago, coaching two Gwinnett high school teams into the state finals.
Now he’s facing his toughest opponent of all.
Read the rest of his story here: on-myajc.com/1ruXtaZ
