| Color: | LightSteelBlue |
| Fontcolor: | Black |
| Frank Schmitz | |
| College: | Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Sport: | Gymnastics |
| Career Start: | 1964 |
| Career End: | 1966 |
| Nationality: | American |
| Birth Date: | 4 September 1945 |
| Death Place: | Morgan City, Louisiana |
| Career Highlights: | Y |
| Honors: | SIU Athletic Hall of Fame |
| Championships: | Y |
| Championship List: | 1966 NCAA Men's Team Gymnastics 1966 NCAA Floor Exercise 1966 NCAA Vault 1965 NCAA Floor Exercise 1965 NCAA Trampoline 1962 AAU Trampoline National Championship |
| Medal Templates-Expand: | yes |
Frank K. Schmitz (September 4, 1945 – September 3, 1966) was an American trampoline gymnast who won four individual NCAA titles and a silver medal at the 1965 Trampoline World Championships.
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]