Harv Schmidt

Harvard Schmidt (September 25, 1935 – April 7, 2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A 6 ft, 195 lb small forward from Kankakee, Illinois. Schmidt attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he played from 1954 to 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. Schmidt was appointed by his alma mater on March 29, 1967, to succeed Harry 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 the Big Ten Conference 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.