By Fred Steiner
Think you know every Super Bowl football fact worth chewing on? Think again.
Bet you didn't know a Bluffton High School grad, now deceased, owned four Super Bowl rings. Think hard. Hint: He's Mary Amstutz's brother...or if you still need help...he's Steve Amstutz's (a.k.a. Mr. A) uncle.
Neil Schmidt, a 1947 Bluffton High School graduate, who you could say was the greatest Bluffton athlete of his era, owned four Super Bowl rings. I know. I saw 'em.
Here's the story: After tremendous high school and college careers, Neil became a scout for the San Francisco 49ers. Before all of that he was the only Pirate athlete too be named to both first teams all-Ohio in two sports during the same season...football and basketball.
Neil went to Purdue. There he played both football and basketball. It gets even better. On the football field he played both ways: halfback and safety. In 1950 he scored one TD and had an 85-yarder called back against Nortre Dame!
He always claimed the 85-yarder should have been counted. Purdue won that game. In the process, the Boilermakers snapped the Fighting Irish' 39-game winning streak.
Can this story get any better? Keep reading.
When Schmidt was a senior at Purdue he was the football team's leading offensive receiver. He was a starter on the Big Ten school's basketball squad. There he averaged 14 points a game (remember this was the early 1950s).
Also at Purdue, Neil was awarded the Gimlet Award. It was given to Purdue's most outstanding athlete.
During the 1950-51 season Neil also received the Big 10 Medal. It went to the athlete with the highest grade point average.
Neil was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals) in the third round of the 1951-52 draft. However, an injury retired his career.
He eventually became an assistant coach at several universities. Those included Wichita State, Texas A&M, Florida State University (where he tried to recruit Jim Oppermann) and the University of Miami.
He joined the 49ers in the 1970s. He was a scout with the team from 1974 to 1994. It was there, during the 49ers' great seasons, that Neil earned four Super Bowl rings.
As a footnote: as a BHS as a senior, he crowned his sister Alice as the first-ever Bluffton High School homecoming queen during the 1946 football season.
There's more to this story, but you'd hardly believe it. I suggest you take it up with Mary Amstutz or Steve.
