Bill Schmidt, an Olympic medalist who had an illustrious career as a sports marketing executive, died on Aug. 30 in Knoxville. He was 78.
Schmidt won the bronzein the javelin at the 1972 Olympics in Munich and is the last American to medal in the event. He later embarked on a remarkable business career that began in Knoxville, helping craft the field of sports marketing and revolutionizing Gatorade into a billion-dollar brand.
Schmidt grew up in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and threw javelin at North Texas — then called North Texas State — before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1970. He was still serving as a private when he competed at the 1972 Olympics.
He earned a master’s degree in business education from the University of Tennessee in 1976
and was a graduate assistant coach for the track team.
His sports marketing career got its start when the World's Fair came to Knoxville in 1982. Schmidt was appointed as the event's sports director, overseeing a sold-out NFL exhibition game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots at Neyland Stadium, international competitions and a popular memorabilia exhibit.
“That was kind of the beginning of sports marketing," Schmidt told Knox News in 2013. "It was literally cutting your teeth on a blank canvas.’’
Schmidt's work at the World's Fair helped land him a job as Gatorade's vice president for worldwide marketing.
In Schmidt's 15 years with Gatorade, the brand went from $84 million to $1.75 billion in sales and expanded to 24 countries. During the 1991 NBA All-Star weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, he negotiated a deal to make Michael Jordan the official spokesman for Gatorade. It was one of the defining deals of Schmidt's career, leading to the iconic "Be Like Mike" campaign.
“Michael listened to me,’’ Schmidt told Knox News. “I could say things to him. He would do things for me he wouldn’t do for people paying him $5 million a year.’’
Schmidt helped in adding the Home Run Derby to MLB's All-Star festivities and the Slam Dunk Contest to NBA All-Star Weekend. He was instrumental in establishing Gatorade high school players of the year to honor top athletes in every state.
Schmidt was also the sports director for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which turned a $225 million profit.
He left Gatorade in 1999 to become CEO of Oakley, the sunglasses and apparel company. In 2001, he returned to Knoxville to run his own consulting firm, Pegasus, and was an adjunct professor in UT's department of exercise and sport beginning in 2002.
He applied twice for the job of athletic director at Tennessee, first in 2003 and then in 2011.
“A lot of people encouraged me to do it,’’ Schmidt told Knox News, “saying, ‘You’ve got a business background, you’ve got a sports background, you’ve managed $300 million budgets.’
“It seemed like a natural. But it didn’t work out.’’
Schmidt was inducted into the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
His memoir, “Southview to Gettysvue: From a Coal Camp to Olympic Podium, to Courtside with Michael Jordan,” was published in 2022.
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Bill Schmidt, whose renowned sports marketing career started in Knoxville, dies at 78
