Frank Schmitz

Schmitz was the son of William C. and Polly Schmitz and was raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. He had several accidents as a child. As a baby, Frank's stroller rolled off the front porch of his house. As a boy he found a live bullet that he put in a toy gun. The bullet exploded and part of it lodged in his liver. As a teenager, Schmitz was involved in a motor scooter accident. A head injury from the accident caused his head to swell to one and a half times its normal size. After Schmitz recovered, his parents pushed him away from contact sports, so he became interested in gymnastics.[1]

After taking up gymnastics he studied under Jeff Hennessy at the University of Southwestern Louisiana while he was in high school.[2][1] In 1962, he won the AAU trampoline national championship.[3] He came in second in Trampolining at the same event in 1963.[4]

While still in high school, Schmitz won the U.S. Invitational Championship in trampoline, floor exercise, and vaulting in 1962. In 1963 and 1964, he won the East-West Trampoline Championship. He also attended the 1964 inaugural South African Games where he won the trampoline championship.[5]

He began attending college at Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity.[5] While at SIU he won four individual NCAA national championships. In 1965, he won the Floor Exercise as well as the Trampoline championships[6][1][7] In 1966, he was again the Floor Exercise champion as well as the Long Horse (Vault) champion.[6][7][8] In 1966, the SIU Salukis were also the NCAA team champion in men’s gymnastics.[9]

Schmitz won a silver medal at the 1965 Trampoline World Championships in London.[10][5]

Schmitz was killed when the plane he was piloting crashed near Morgan City, Louisiana on the night before his twenty-first birthday.[1][5] At the time of his death he was rated one of the best trampolinists in the world. He was also known for being able to perform the full and one and a half twisting dive roll on the floor exercise and the full twisting front vault on the Long Horse.[1]

After his death he was inducted into the SIU Athletic Hall of Fame.[11]