Fred Schmidt

[fuse]

File this under cool meetings that happen when you wear Duke gear.

My younger son was wearing his 2001 Duke National Championship t-shirt at IHOP tonight (breakfast for dinner is a glorious, glorious thing).

An older gentleman with his adult son are in line in front of us.
He sees my son’s shirt and says, “That’s the right shirt to be wearing”.

I volunteer that I graduated from Duke, and his response was priceless.

He asks what year, and when I tell him, he responds:
“I was there quite a bit earlier than you were. I’m Fred Schmidt, and I was on Duke’s first Final Four team.”

He mentioned playing with Art Heyman and Jeff Mullin, and was extremely complimentary of K and how included he felt in the program, sharing that K credited them as where Duke basketball really started.

Any factual errors in the above can be attributed to either my poor recall or paraphrasing.

It was remarkably cool to meet Fred Schmidt.

A new great memory of a random meeting of a Duke player.

Fun way to end a weekend.

[jimsumner]

Schmidt started at guard in 1963. He was a classmate of Heyman's and a year ahead of Mullins. This was indeed Duke's first Final Four team.

[chrishoke]

That was my first Duke team, 62-63. I was 8 years old. Duke went undefeated at home and from my seat in section 2 I fell in love with Duke basketball. Cool story Jim.

[chrishoke]

team-1962-63.jpg

[sagegrouse]

FWIW, I noticed that there was a Colt OL named Jack Mewhort on the TV tonight, playing against the Seahawks. His grandfather "Buzz" was a teammate of Fred Schmidt's in the 1960-61 and the 1961-62 seasons and was team captain in 1961-62.

[Faustus]

Noticed that name too and thought to myself, "There can't be that many Mewhorts around" and wondered about a possible connection, as I remember the name Buzz Mewhort too. (Of course there aren't that many guys called "Buzz" around now either...)

[DukieInKansas]

Noticed that name too and thought to myself, "There can't be that many Mewhorts around" and wondered about a possible connection, as I remember the name Buzz Mewhort too. (Of course there aren't that many guys called "Buzz" around now either...)

It has been light-years since there was a Buzz around.

Thanks for sharing the story, Fuse.

[Reilly]

It has been light-years since there was a Buzz around ...

With respect to puns about Buzz, cut it out.

[Indoor66]

With respect to puns about Buzz, cut it out.

As a regular"punner" around here, I completely agree with you.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

As a regular"punner" around here, I completely agree with you.

I think you missed the pun.

[sagegrouse]

It has been light-years since there was a Buzz around.

Thanks for sharing the story, Fuse.

There were a lot of buzzcuts back in the day -- or, at least, flat-tops. "Buzz" Mewhort, on the other hand, was handsomely groomed, with longish hair for the day.