Legendary Detroit Lions linebacker Joe Schmidt has died at the age of 92
Joe Schmidt, Hall of Fame linebacker and key figure in the Detroit Lions’ last championship title in 1957, has died at the age of 92.
With the death of former Detroit Lions middle linebacker Joe Schmidt, the longtime captain who led the Lions to the 1953 and 1957 World Championships and then served as the team’s head coach for six seasons, we lose a legendary figure whose portrait could have been engraved on the Mount Rushmore of Detroit sports icons.
A media panel once gave the Pro Football Hall of Famer the title “Mr. Detroit Lion,” and honestly, that nickname still holds true today.
I was very fortunate to know Schmidt for 25 years.
I interviewed him several times in person or by phone for articles I wrote as a freelance writer for the Free Press, and we stayed in touch over the years. I broke bread with him a few times. Sometimes I called him on his birthday, January 18, when I remembered. The conversation always ended with, “Thanks for the call, buddy.”
I found him to be friendly, humble, soft-spoken and proud of his time as a player in the glory years of Lions football in the 1950s, when he redefined the middle linebacker position as the “defensive quarterback.”
He was a gentleman with real class.
Schmidt also had a wonderful sense of humor.
Like actor John Belushi, who nicknamed his fraternity brothers in the comedy “I Think I’m Kicking a Horse,” Schmidt sometimes nicknamed many of his teammates. Carl Brettschneider was “Badger.” John Gordy was “The Bear.” Dan LaRose was “Fred Flintstone,” and so on.
In his bestseller Paper lionAttending journalist George Plimpton recounted his tryout as the Lions’ quarterback during training camp in 1963 at Cranbrook School and wrote about Schmidt and the antics of the colorful Lion players. Schmidt later played himself as the Lions’ head coach in the 1968 film “Paper Lion.”
When he was head coach, he was once approached by two of his star players, Lem Barney and Mel Farr, whose close friend, Motown singer Marvin Gaye, had asked him if he could audition for the Lions.
Of course, almost any football coach would have said, “No way,” but Schmidt kindly allowed the famous singer to audition for a day and then politely informed Gaye that it would be best to stick to singing.
In 2007, after I interviewed Joe for my Free Press article on the 50th On the 100th anniversary of the Lions’ last World Championship, he agreed to meet me at Tiger Stadium with Free Press photographer Mandi Wright, who took photos of him on the field.
It was a beautiful, sunny September morning at the ballpark where Schmidt starred from 1953 until his retirement after the 1965 season. I had brought a Lions-issued football, and Mandi had a stepladder, which she stood on to photograph Schmidt looking up with a beautiful smile on his face and the ball in his hand.
He reminisced about the stadium, pointing fondly to the front row seats where season ticket holders were handing out hot dogs to some of the players. He also sadly pointed to the spot where, during his tenure as head coach, receiver Chuck Hughes died of a heart attack in the final minutes of a 1971 game. “A good player and a great guy,” he said.
As we were leaving the stadium, Schmidt asked the city employee if we could go to the home team’s locker room. The man told us that there had been no electricity since the Tigers left, but that he had a key to open it and a flashlight.
When we came in, you couldn’t even see your hands.
But as soon as the man pointed the flickering beam of his flashlight at the floor, Joe Schmidt ran straight to his corner locker.
I asked him how he found it so quickly.
He said, “Damn, I played here for 13 years, it was easy.”
Wright then asked Schmidt to stand in front of his locker, where the flash of her camera illuminated him for a millisecond and he smiled.
When we finished, I walked with him two blocks up Michigan Avenue to get a hamburger at Nemo’s, one of his favorite places. It was another wonderful opportunity to hear colorful stories about quarterback Bobby Layne, head coach Buddy Parker, running back Doak Walker and those incredible championship years.
At one point I asked him if he still had the match ball that was awarded to him after the Lions’ last world championship title in 1957.
Schmidt said he gave the ball that year to the team’s center, Frank Gatski, who had just played his final NFL game, then sheepishly noted that years later he asked Gatski if he still had the ball (which could arguably be called the Holy Grail of Lions football).
With a hearty laugh, he said, “Frank told me his dog caught it and ate it!”
On August 28 of this year, I toured the new Detroit Lions: Gridiron Heroes exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum, which features numerous game artifacts, photos, trophies and other Lions memorabilia, including a bust of Schmidt, his cleats and a game ball he was awarded. There’s even a color film of highlights from the 1953 NFL championship game and a listening station that includes the Joe Schmidt Trio’s 1963 record of the songs “Cry Out Freedom” and “Lonesome One,” with vocals by Schmidt and teammates Dick LeBeau and Bruce Maher. (Schmidt once told me, with a chuckle, that he had a big box of the records in his basement.)
I took photos and videos of the exhibition with my phone and immediately called Schmidt at his home in Florida to tell him about the exhibition.
His wife, Marilyn, passed the phone to her daughter, Kerry, who said her father was in the hospital. I then emailed her the photos and videos and asked if she would show them to her father.
The next day she responded by email saying that he “really enjoyed seeing everything, thanked me and that it brought back some wonderful memories.” On the day he died she emailed me saying, “One of the last things my dad saw were the photos and videos and that they made him smile. He was a special person and I am eternally grateful that he was my dad.”
At Comerica Park, the Tigers have statues of former players Ty Cobb, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Willie Horton, Al Kaline and Hal Newhouser.
At Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings display statues of their former players Alex Delvecchio, Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay. And just last year, the Lions unveiled a beautiful statue of Barry Sanders at Ford Field.
In a statement posted on the Lions website this week, Lions President Emeritus Martha Ford wrote, in part, “Joe Schmidt had the heart of a lion, so it was only fitting that he was also the heart of our team. Joe was an important part of our championship seasons and remained an important part of our team until his passing.”
I think a lot of people would be happy if there was a statue of Joe Schmidt at Ford Field.
After all, he is “Mr. Detroit Lion.”
