PSU Magazine Spring 1999

If you've attended a Viking game, you've heard Vern Schultz. I t's no contest-36-year-old Vern Schultz is Portland State's most loyal fan. Schultz, who suffers from cere– bral palsy, has been a volunteer for the Athletics Department for some 16 years. He attends all the home games, along with many of the practice sessions for the schoo l's main sports. And he keeps track of team schedules as closely as the coaches themselves-sometimes even better, they admit. In recognition of his tireless service, Schultz was inducted into PSU's Softball Hall of Fame several years ago. "He's been helping me for 15 years and he's never missed a day," says women's softball coach Teri Mariani, who pays him a small stipend for his job. Three times a week during winter term, Mariani picks up Schultz at his southeast Portland apartment at 5:30 a.m. and puts him through a slightly modified warm-up program before the women 's practice session begins. "He charts the scores for his exer– cises and pu he himse lf very hard to perform his best," Mariani says. "If he's down a point one day, he tries all the harder the next." After his warm-up, Schultz sets to work as cond itioning manager, bring– ing in all the equipment and putting it exactly where it's supposed to go, she says. "He's very dependable." Schultz al o helps out in the men's locker room, folding towels, and at football practice, keep ing time and retrieving footballs. "I got knocked down a few times," Schultz says with a grin, in his slow, endearing drawl. "He has a great sense of humor," Mariani says. "He loves jokes and pranks. He' ll deliberately fix one of his shoes so that it comes off when I'm stretching his legs. O r he'll pretend to scold one of the softball players with, 'You didn't work out very hard this morning.' " Schultz remembers the exact day he began his career at PSU. "April 5, 1982," he ays carefully, prompting Marian i to add, "He's got an amaz ing memory." A few days before his fifth birthday, Schultz was hit by a car and suffered massive head injuries. He went into a coma and after four months in the hospital, came home still only partly conscious, accord ing to hi mother, Janice Schultz. "The doctors told me he would likely die of a brain infection," he says. "If he did recover, they thought he would never speak or walk or be able to do anything on his own." Against all odds and expectations, Schultz gradually rega ined much of his By Jack Yost motor and mental control, though he remains severely disabled. He is clearly proud that after several years of living in a group home, he has now lived on his own since 1992. "You don't have to worry about what time you get up," he says, teasing-for he rises every day at 3 a.m. On days when Mariani doesn't pick him up, Schultz takes the bus. "He knows the bus system better than anyone I know," she says. "He goe to Trail Blazer games at the Colise um or takes the bus home at night after PSU games, without a~y problem at all." Schultz also competes in the state Special Olympics games in the softball throw and 50-yard dash. During the race in 1997, "it was pouring down rain, and I fe ll down three time ," he says. But he got back up and finished the race, coming in second. "That's the kind of determination and dedication that makes him such an inspiration to everyone around here," Mariani says. At Portland State, Schultz says, he fee ls "part of the family." For those who've known him at the University, the feeling is clearly mutual. D (Jack Yost MA '7 1, a frequent contribu– tor to PSU Magazine, wrote the article "The Gentleman Professor" published in the winter 1999 issue .) SPRING 1999 PSU MAGAZINE 11