While out of town last week, the news arrived of the death of Pitt, College Football, and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Joe Schmidt at the age of 92. A graduate of Brentwood High School in Pittsburgh, Schmidt became an All-American linebacker at Pitt. In 1953, he was drafted by the Detroit Lions where he played for thirteen seasons, During that time, the Lions were NFL champions twice, 1953 and 1957, and Schmidt played in 10 Pro Bowls and was a First Team all-pro eight times. He was a member of the NFL's 1950's all-decade team, and was chosen a member of the NFL's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019. He was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. Joe Schmidt also was the head coach of the Lions from 1967-73.
Interestingly enough, as I was researching this post, I went through the back editions of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the days following Schmidt's death of September 11, and could find no mention of his death, never mind a full scale obituary. I admit that it was a cursory look on my iPhone, so perhaps I missed it, but if true, shame on the Post-Gazette for ignoring one of Pittsburgh's legendary athletes.
I have to say that Schmidt's salad days as one of the NFL's greatest middle linebackers, pretty much pre-date my days as a serious football fan. He was mostly just a guy on a football card to me in my youth, but a couple of quotes of Joe Schmidt ring in my memory.
One tells of Schmidt's senior year at Pitt where he gave a pre-game talk prior to the Panthers game with Notre Dame. "If you guys don't go out there and beat Notre Dame" Schmidt allegedly said, "so hep me, I'll come in here after the game and beat all of you." Pitt won the game.
If that story isn't true, it should be.
In 1971, sportswriter Larry Merchant wrote a book about pro football called "....And Every Day You Take Another Bite." (I wrote about this book in this space back in 2011. Here is that write up.) Schmidt was the HC for the Lions at the time and was quoted frequently throughout, and it can be said that Joe's use of the language could be described as both colorful and earthy. In fact, the odd title of Merchant's book came from this philosophical tidbit from Joe Schmidt:
"Life is a shit sandwich, and every day you take another bite."
Even Mike Tomlin can't top that one.
RIP Joe Schmidt.
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