Skip Shurtz fenced both foil and épée, winning Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) titles with both weapons, épée in 1954 and foil in 1956. In 1955 he won two silver medals at the Pan American Games in individual and team épée. After the Olympics Shurtz retired from fencing and returned to college at Wayne State University, graduating in 1963. Shurtz then became a fencing coach, first at Scottsdale Community College near Phoenix, and with his own club, the Phoenix Falcons. He later taught wheelchair fencers with the Grand Canyon State Fencing Foundation.