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Swimmers trained at du Pont facility

An heir to the du Pont fortune was captured by SWAT team members yesterday after he stepped outside his mansion to fix a boiler, ending a 48-hour standoff that began with the shooting death of Dave Schultz, a Olympic wrestling champion.

The Associated Press reported that John E. du Pont, who had been without heat since police cut off his boiler system Friday night, told negotiators he was cold and was leaving his house, said Newtown Township Police Chief Michael Mallon.

He did not carry one of the many weapons he kept on his 800-acre estate. No one was injured in the capture, AP reported.

For several members of the University Athletic Department who knew du Pont and Schultz, the ordeal was a shock.

Swimmers and coaches from the Michigan women's swimming team have trained at du Pont's facility in Newtown Square, where they came into contact with both Schultz and du Pont on several occassions. Schultz also trained at the facility.

Swimmers, including freshman Jenny Kurth and sophomore Karen Bunting, remember visiting Schultz at his house on a few occassions. Their contact with du Pont was slightly more limited.

"He let us come in and train on his estate," Kurth said. "He would come in and check on us from time to time."

Many of the swimmers and coaches said du Pont as an eccentric.

"He was always a little strange," Kurth said. "I always thought he was a little mentally unstable, but I would never expect him to do something like this."

Head coach Jim Richardson remembers du Pont as a high-profile figure in the swimming community.

"Most of us in swimming have met John because he has given a lot of money to the sport," Richardson said.

In addition, du Pont had received numerous honors and awards from the American Swimming Coaches Association. As a millionaire, du Pont funded the training of many Olympic swimmers and wrestlers.

Du Pont's Foxcatcher National Training Center was built right on his estate and was the sight of the Michigan swimmers' training for several years.

During that time, some swimmers noted du Pont arriving at the practice facility intoxicated.

"Since I've left, the stories I've heard about (du Pont) have been getting stranger and stranger," said assistant coach Chrissi Hill.

The Associated Press reported that Schultz, 36, who won an Olympic gold medal in 1984, worked as a coach at du Pont's 14,000-square-foot Foxcatcher National Training Center while training for a comeback at this summer's Games in Atlanta. Several other wrestlers also lived on the estate, and others traveled there each day to train.

Du Pont is a great-great grandson of E.I. du Pont, the French-born industrialist who founded the chemical company. As one of hundreds of heirs to the family fortune, he was worth an estimated $46.2 million in 1985, the Associated Press reported.