When Don Shuler walked into a room, there were a few givens.
If he wasn’t wearing Notre Dame gear, Shuler was rocking a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt. Then you’d hear, “What’s up, bro?” delivered with a Jersey accent.
And then there was the immense pride he had in his family.
If he wasn’t talking about his oldest son, Adon, who is now a two-time captain at Notre Dame, Shuler was talking about his two younger sons, including one with the nickname “The Hitman.”
Many were impacted by Don Shuler throughout the years and they made sure his family knew it following the Shulers’ announcement of his passing Monday.
“It just speaks to the character of who he was and the type of person that he was,” Shuler stated. “I used to tell him that every room he walked in, he lighted it up. I feel like that's kind of the legacy that he left and everybody had a relationship with him.”
The last few days have been a testament to how Shuler was raised by his father.
Shuler left the program over the weekend to spend time with his father and family in New Jersey before returning to campus for Wednesday’s practice.
No one would have blamed Shuler for stepping away from the team, much less for declining interviews Wednesday night.
But that’s not how he was taught to live.
Football has always been important in the Shuler household, and the senior safety believes playing is something his father would want him to do this week.
“Football is something I've been doing my whole life,” explained Shuler. “He introduced it to me. I feel like it wouldn't be right if I didn't attack this week the way I'm attacking it. I’m just looking at it as a regular week. Yes, I had a great loss, but I know he's looking and watching. That's all you can ask for.”
Shuler might have topped his father’s prep career by earning a scholarship to Notre Dame, but that doesn’t mean Don Shuler wasn’t a high school football legend himself.
“From an early age, I was always told that my dad was a great football player,” smiled Shuler. “He was an all-state lineman in high school. All his teammates were like, ‘Yeah, your dad was definitely a guy.’
“They say he was a lineman, but he moved. He had running back feet. Growing up, he used to tell us, me and my little brothers, you got your athletic ability from me. We always joke about that.”
Football meant more than just a game in the Shuler household. Don used it as a vehicle to teach his sons about life and the opportunities that could come from hard work.
“He told me and my little brothers a lot about the game of football,” stated Shuler. “He taught us that football can be used as a way of life. I feel like that's how me and my brothers look at it."
The football field might have been the common ground and a goal for Shuler’s sons, but Don was teaching them just as much away from the field.
One of those lessons was how to handle adversity.
And now, his Notre Dame two-time captain is showing just how deeply he embraced those words.
“Everybody that you come in contact with is a person that you can touch,” Shuler explained. “I feel like that's how he was with everybody. Everybody he came in contact with, he touched them and he was a light for people.
“He also told me life is a card game. You get dealt the cards you get dealt. It's your job to change the circumstances, change what you're going through, what you're around. That's just something that he kind of instilled in me. Always work hard. Always keep your head down. Don't expect nothing and things will always work itself out.”
Shuler will now face the biggest challenge of his young life as he learns how to balance his grief with the responsibility of leading a football team.
He won’t have to do it alone. His family will be there. His teammates will be there. The Notre Dame coaching staff will be there.
And, in many ways, so will his father.
The two spent plenty of time talking about leadership heading into this season, with Don challenging his son to become an even better leader for the Irish.
“I'm so excited for the team and myself,” said Shuler. “Something that me and my dad always talked about, especially going into this season was just being a better leader. I feel like my leadership has grown throughout last season, but I just wanted to start the year off with great leadership and just make sure my teammates know they picked the right guy to lead them.”
Now, with the biggest test of his life in front of him, Shuler is doing exactly what his father taught him to do. Keep his head down, work hard and keep moving forward.
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