| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1935-09-25)September 25, 1935 Kankakee, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | April 7, 2020(2020-04-07) (aged 83) Windsor, Colorado, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1954–1957 | Illinois |
| Position(s) | Small forward |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1967–1974 | Illinois |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 89–77 |
Harvard Schmidt (September 25, 1935 – April 7, 2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), 195 pounds (88 kg) small forward fromKankakee, Illinois. Schmidt attended theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he played from 1954 to 1957 for themen'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 theMinneapolis Lakers.[1]
Schmidt was appointed by hisalma mater on March 29, 1967, to succeedHarry Combes 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 theBig Ten Conference over aslush fund scandal.[2][3] He compiled a record of 89 wins and 77 losses.[4][5][6] He died on April 7, 2020, at the age of 83.[7]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois Fighting Illini(Big Ten Conference)(1967–1974) | |||||||||
| 1967–68 | Illinois | 11–13 | 6–8 | T–7th | |||||
| 1968–69 | Illinois | 19–5 | 9–5 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1969–70 | Illinois | 15–9 | 8–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1970–71 | Illinois | 11–12 | 5–9 | T–5th | |||||
| 1971–72 | Illinois | 14–10 | 5–9 | T–8th | |||||
| 1972–73 | Illinois | 14–10 | 8–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1973–74 | Illinois | 5–18 | 2–12 | 10th | |||||
| Illinois: | 89–77 | 43–55 | |||||||
| Total: | 89–77 | ||||||||
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