Even in high school, Tim Schmitz was a creature of habit. So much so that the standout running back wouldn't change or wash his socks from game-to-game.
At least not until his father Dick, then the athletic director at Sauk Centre High School and a late 1940s graduate of Saint John's University, disrupted the routine prior to the Mainstreeters' matchup with Burnsville in the 1972 Class A state championship game.
"We all got new socks before the championship," recalls Schmitz, then a junior. "I told my Dad there was no way I was changing my socks. He told me not to worry. They were just socks. So I wore the new ones and we lost.
"I learned my lesson right there."
Indeed, Schmitz wouldn't make that mistake again, carrying his superstitions into his own career at Saint John's from 1974-77.
"If we were playing at home, I'd get up about 6 a.m., then lay around and have coffee," he recalls. "I'd go get something to eat, then head over to the locker room and hang out until I got my ankles taped around 11. It was the same guy who taped them all the time, even when we were on the road.
"Then I'd get ready by putting my shoulder pads and pants on the same way every week. I had a routine going and I didn't deviate from it. I never changed my socks in college either. But I put so much powder on that no one had to smell them."
The routine seemed to work as Schmitz put together one of the top four-year careers in program history. A key part of head coach
John Gagliardi's innovative quadruple-option offense, he finished his collegiate career with 3,933 rushing yards, which stood as a school record until it was broken by Sam Sura in 2015.
"Tim was probably the biggest key to making that offense go," said Jeff Norman '78, the quarterback in charge of getting him the ball in those years. "He had the second read and that position had to be fast enough to take the ball outside if the defensive end moved in, but strong and tough enough to go up the middle and take on a linebacker if the defensive end moved out.
"Not a lot of people fit that bill, but he did. He was big and strong, but also really fast. There were many times he broke one or two tackles and he was off to the races for a long touchdown."
As a junior in 1976, Schmitz rushed for 1,475 yards and 15 touchdowns while helping the Johnnies earn that season's NCAA Division III national championship. He rushed for 197 yards in a playoff victory at Augustana (Ill.), though only after a pre-game disruption of his cherished routine had been resolved.
"My equipment didn't show up on time down in Illinois, and I remember (head coach) John (Gagliardi) had to go to my Mom and ask her to help calm me down," Schmitz remembers. "He told her they'd found my equipment and they'd have it there by game time. I just had to get through practice the day before wearing someone else's stuff. But I didn't want to even do that."
Schmitz went on to rush for 152 yards in the championship game victory over Towson State (Md.), including a 52-yard touchdown run. He also caught a 46-yard touchdown catch from Norman, but his biggest play may have been one that resulted in a one-yard loss.
With the score tied at 28 in the final seconds, the Johnnies had advanced all the way to the Tigers' 1-yard line on a 58-yard pass from Norman to fellow running back Jim Roeder '77. But on 1st-and-goal, the ball got away from Norman on a quarterback sneak.
Fortunately, Schmitz fell on it, paving the way for Norman's game-winning 19-yard field goal as time expired.
"When (Norman) got inducted into the (SJU) Hall of Honor last year, I joked with him that now he could finally thank me," Schmitz said with a chuckle. "Luckily, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."
Schmitz and Norman were both back the following year, and Schmitz rushed for 1,244 yards and 14 touchdowns to earn All-America honors. But the season came to a disappointing end for the Johnnies, who repeated as MIAC champions and had been favored to return to the national title game.
SJU fell 20-9 to Wabash (Ind.) in the first round of the Division III playoffs in a game played on an icy field in Collegeville that limited Schmitz's impact.
"Wabash, oh Wabash," Schmitz stills sighs 45 years later. "They got so lucky. If we hadn't had had that ice storm, they'd have been toast. I think I only carried the ball eight times in that game. It was just so hard to get our footing.
"It was disappointing because we'd been ranked No. 1 in the country and we felt like we had a good chance to repeat. But things didn't work out."
Schmitz signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings following his graduation from SJU in the fall of 1978, meaning he was playing for Bud Grant, the father of Johnnie teammate Mike Grant '79. He lasted until almost the last round of cuts that August, then tried again with the Baltimore Colts the following year.
But he soon realized it was time to move on to other things.
"I had fun with the Vikings and I got to meet (running back Chuck) Foreman (and quarterbacks Fran) Tarkenton and Tommy Kramer," he said. "I remember Bobby Lee the punter. He was quite the character.
"By 1979 when I went out to Baltimore, though, I wasn't in the best shape. After a couple of weeks it hit me that I shouldn't be doing this anymore. I already had a wife and a kid on the way. It was time to go home and focus on a career."
After a few years in sales, Schmitz took over running golf courses in Wisconsin until building his own resort in Marcel, Minnesota in 1995. He ran the Timberwolf Inn until selling it in 2017.
"I met my wife in Marcel," he said. "My folks ran a resort there from 1972 to 1980. My Dad (who was inducted into the Minnesota Athletic Director's Hall of Fame in 1999) would teach during the school year, then they'd run the resort in the summer.
"I loved being up there. I cooked a lot in the restaurant. I'd say for the last 18 years we ran the place, I did 90 percent of the cooking. I loved creating new menu items and trying out new recipes. It was a lot of fun."
These days, he and his wife of 43 years Brenda have a home on Portage Lake near Walker and enjoy spending time with their three daughters Lindsey, Stephanie and Alexandra, their son-in-laws Andy and Beau, and their four grandchildren Olivia, Tim (TJ), Ava and Tavye.
But Schmitz still tries to get down to at least one Johnnies' football game each fall.
"I have a lot of great memories of my time at Saint John's," he said. "We had some amazing teams and I feel lucky to have been part of that."
