DETROIT — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.

The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.

One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000. He was the first Pitt player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the university retired his jersey (No. 65) in 1997.

Rest in peace, Joe Schmidt. pic.twitter.com/deVniYWiCz

— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) September 12, 2024

“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”

Born in Brentwood, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.

“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”

Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career, when the Panthers won just 10 games total in his three varsity seasons, and he played for four head coaches between 1949-52.

He grew up in Mt. Oliver and went to Brentwood High School but before that played sandlot football with adults.

At Pitt, Schmidt was an All-American middle linebacker (1952), despite a string of injuries that included a broken wrist and separated shoulder, two knee injuries in successive seasons and two broken ribs. After tearing knee cartilage in the ’52 opener, he played two weeks later against Notre Dame, suffering a concussion that put him in the hospital for 10 days.

Schmidt was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.

Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.

In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.

“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”

Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.

Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.

Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.

“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”

“Joe Schmidt is a Pitt football icon,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said in a statement. “His image is showcased throughout our facility for our players to see every day. That’s because Joe set the highest of standards as a player and person at Pitt and in the NFL. We mourn his passing and share our deepest condolences with his family and many loved ones.”

Added Pitt interim athletic director Jennifer Tuscano: “As both a College and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Joe Schmidt ranks among the greatest players in the history of the game. He was a legendary linebacker who was also greatly respected and beloved off the field throughout Pitt, Pittsburgh and Detroit. On behalf of the University of Pittsburgh, we convey our deepest sympathies to his wife, Marilyn, and the entire Schmidt family.”

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