Robert E. Schulze was an intimidating presence in the halls of Wheeling High School, but appearances were deceiving, colleagues said.
“He was the strongest guy I think I have ever known,” said Rick Benedetto, former head football coach at the school. “He was like the rock of Wheeling High School. But he was fantastic with the kids.
“He would be grabbing people in the hallways and he would have you in a hold and you couldn’t get away from him. The kids loved it when he did that.”
Mr. Schulze, 74, died of myelofibrosis, a blood disorder, on Wednesday, May 9, in his Arlington Heights home.
For 30 years, Mr. Schulze taught physical education at the District 214 school where he also was wrestling coach and assistant football and golf coach.
“He was a mentor,” said Neal Weiner, the school’s boys athletic director and head wrestling coach. “He helped me learn an unbelievable amount of information and also how to be a leader.”
Former students said he was demanding and respectful.
“Coach Schulze had something to offer everyone, and if you listened and worked hard, you are a better person today because of the work ethic he taught all of us,” said Todd Wilson, a member of the 1977-78 conference champion team.
Mr. Schulze was born in Blue Island. His family moved around the Midwest with his father’s job as head of A&P Bakeries before settling in Mt. Prospect.
At Arlington High School, Mr. Schulze was captain of the football and wrestling teams. He graduated from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor’s degree in education.
His teaching career was put on hold after he enlisted in the Navy, where he was a pilot. He was in Squadron VA-145 and flew off the USS Ranger. Mr. Schulze remained in the Naval Reserve based in Glenview and was discharged in 1971 as a lieutenant.
For several years, Mr. Schulze taught physical education at South Junior High School in Arlington Heights District 25, where he met his wife, Mary, a teacher at another district school. They got married in 1963 and moved to Arlington Heights in 1973.
Mr. Schulze started at Wheeling High School when it opened in 1964 and received a master’s degree that year from NIU.
He retired in 1992.
“He loved to play golf and he loved classical music,” said his son Kurt. “He used to drive people nuts because … he would be blasting away his classical music and not a lot of people were into it.”
Survivors include his wife; two other sons, Eric and Brett; two brothers, Ted and Bill; and a sister, Grace Glascock.
Services have been held.
