Harvard Schmidt (September 25, 1935 – April 7, 2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A , small forward from

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves as an ...

. Schmidt attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

, where he played from 1954–1957 for the men's basketball team. He also coached the Fighting Illini men's basketball team for seven years from 1967 to 1974. Schmidt averaged 12.3 points per game for his collegiate career, playing in 65 games. He was selected in the second round (11th pick overall) of the 1957 NBA Draft by the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

. Schmidt was appointed by his alma mater on March 29, 1967 to succeed

Harry Combes Harry Combes (March 3, 1915 – November 13, 1977), a native of Monticello, Illinois, served as head men's basketball coach at University of Illinois between 1947 and 1967. Biography Combes played high school basketball for Monticello High Scho ...

who had been his head coach a decade earlier and was pressured into resigning ten days prior by the university which was threatened with expulsion by the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

over a slush fund scandal. He compiled a record of 89 wins and 77 losses. He died on April 7, 2020 at the age of 83.Schmidt 'righted the program’ in aftermath of slush-fund scandal at Illinois
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Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Harv 1935 births 2020 deaths Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Minneapolis Lakers draft picks New Mexico Lobos men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Kankakee, Illinois Small forwards