RIP Jacob Schlottke

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Originally Posted by goferphan

I've had a very difficult time since I heard of my friend Jacob Schlottke's passing. As alumni of the Apple Valley Wrestling program we always shared a bond, albeit a decade or two apart of our times in the wrestling room up above the gym in Apple Valley. Don't be confused, one of us was a humble legend in that room, the other a legend in his own mind. I'll leave it all to you, our friends, to know who was who.

I knew that Jacob had been sick. At one point he talked about buying some property in Florida. We discussed different options but selfishly I was hoping that he would choose to live somewhere between Tampa and Orlando which I seem to find myself traveling between constantly. When he became ill, those plans were kind of put on hold as I heard from him a little bit less. I found him on at odd times of the evening. As a night owl myself, I was comforted to see him on at times and we'd talk about life, business, my boys, his family and his beautiful wife. Rarely did we discuss wrestling in great detail. All of you know here enough to know that I have always been a bit limited in my "research" so much of what I have in the form of opinions or knowledge come from these websites, my time in the sport and from what I can read in my limited time. Jacob never seemed to mind hearing the inane babble but he really seemed passionate about his family, his friends, his business and what it was like to be a parent.

I found out about his passing, shockingly, from the article in the Minneapolis paper. I texted Shane ( JensenS)within moments and my heart just dropped in my chest and a lump formed in my throat when I received the confirmation. Jacob and I had spoken less than 2 months prior. He never let on at that time that the treatments had not pushed the cancer back.

In hindsight I see just how absolutely selfless of a person he was in this past year. In choosing to keep his battle private, he was keeping us all talking about the things that he loved to talk about most. The sport, our friends and family, the website etc. He once told me that he had respect for me being a parent of three boys, one with special needs and a business man and a husband/brother/son. I am here to tell you Jacob that it is I that am humbled to have been your friend and that I am in awe of your bravery and courage.

I will miss you.

Your friend,

C.J. Turner

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I hate going back and reading these posts as much as I love to. I hadn't seen Jake in a couple years, however I had gotten a chance to talk to him. I knew not to talk to him much about how he was feeling. He absolutely despised the idea of being the source of anyone's pity, or people feeling sorry for him. I think talking wrestling kept his mind off everything else that was going on.

One of the last times I talked to him, we where talking about Alex Dierenger and Destin McCauley, and we both had our opinions of who'd be more successful, who'd have the better college wrestling career, etc..etc...

We had about 10 posts back and forth, and he left the last one with, "well, I guess we'll see after a couple years." We both knew we wouldn't, but...that was Jake.

And it sounds like in talking to you, he just enjoyed NOT thinking about what was happening.



And yeah, he was probably the most humble person I've ever known. There isn't a shadow of a doubt that he could have been a multiple time D-1 National Champ had he chose to wrestle in college. But, he decided very simply he didn't have the desire to wrestle anymore. Which frankly I respect more than guys who don't have the desire, but eat up a spot, a scholarship, etc..etc...

He went to work on his business and that blew up.

But neither was nearly as important in his life as his faith, family and friends. You just wish you had a chance to go back and have another chat with him, or another weekend with him......but such is life.

These threads a couple years later are a reminder of how important he was to people.

Whats difficult for me is that I had already come and gone out of Apple Valley by the time Jacob had gotten there but I followed AV as much as I could before they had much of an online presence. Don't get me wrong, AV was good before Jacob and they were good AFTER Jacob but that period where he was there was when they went to the next level. He helped show the kids in the wrestling room what a 2 hour practice should look like and how to perform on and off the mat.

I enjoyed connecting with him on here and picking his brain a little bit about wrestling but more about his plans of possibly getting in to real estate and alot about our businesses. I miss him. Its sad some days because I forget he is gone when I am here since he essentially helped us carve out this space to have and talk about sports and anything else on our minds. I guess in a way its why I keep coming back here more so then the other places. I just kind of feel like he's around here still.

Miss you Jacob.