When one thinks of a College and Pro Football Hall Of Fame linebacker, the vision usually includes an outstanding junior high school and high school career, a recruiting race to land the sought-after star, and a sterling collegiate performance before embarking on a professional career. In Joe Schmidt's case, he truly got a late start as he attended a junior high school so small, it had no football team. Instead, he followed his older brother John onto the sandlots of Pittsburgh to play football, a boy among men. John Schmidt had played for the 1938 Carnegie Tech team that went to the Sugar Bowl and he kept a hand in the game by coaching a local sandlot team composed primarily of World War II veterans. Young brother Joe had no other football outlet other than the head-banging, bloody weekend games played with and against older teens and grown men, for whatever a passing of the hat brought in. At Pittsburgh's Brentwood High School, young Joe never even thought to take the field until his junior year but when he did, he was a powerful force at fullback and a lot tougher than the other high school players.  He went to Pitt as a fullback and linebacker and was switched to offensive guard his sophomore year. There was no need to switch him from linebacker as Schmidt was a natural, hunting down and decimating ball carriers. At 6'1" and 210 pounds, his sixty-minute per game performances earned him the honor of being team captain and All American, and also earned him numerous injuries; two broken ribs as a freshman, a broken wrist during the spring prior to his sophomore season, a separated shoulder during his second season, a severely sprained knee as a junior, and torn knee cartilage in the opening game his senior season. He followed that up by returning two games later and incurring a severe concussion and hemorrhage against Notre Dame, contact that hospitalized him for ten days. Upon meeting with some of the Steelers’ personnel at the team's offices one afternoon, Mr. Rooney walked into the room and said upon his introduction to Schmidt, "Oh, you're the kid who's always hurt." The series of injuries dropped him to a seventh-round draft pick of the Detroit Lions in 1953 but he fooled all of the doubters, playing All Pro caliber football eight times in his thirteen year career, all as a Lion. He became the Lions head coach a year after retiring as a player, a position he held for six years. Schmidt's play earned him the respect of all, and every opponent looked for number 65 when they played against Pitt and number 56 when they played the Lions. Schmidt's great desire and ability to perform earned him a spot in both the College and Pro Football Halls Of Fame and he is recognized as among the greatest players for both the Panthers and Lions. 

The NCAA change to mandated one-platoon football for the 1953 season hurt Pitt more than other schools due to a lack of depth. They also were justifiably proud of their academic standards and many players were pre-medical, pre-dental, and engineering majors who missed practice time due to lab requirements. Switching back and forth between the Split-T and Single-Wing formations was an attempt to obviate the Panthers’ lack of quality players. Backs Rich McCabe and Bobby Epps were the workhorse offensive players led by outstanding tackle Eldred Kraemer who missed a number of games due to injury. McCabe would knock around pro ball through the 1961 season, finishing his career as a DB with the Bills and Kraemer managed a season with the Forty-Niners. Co-captain Henry “Model-T” Ford played numerous positions on both sides of the football, even at quarterback so that he could be on the field to use his abilities in the defensive secondary. He spent two pro seasons with the Browns and Steelers. The Panthers fell to 3-5-1 but the tie was a spectacular 7-7 contest against mighty Oklahoma. 1954 began with a greater commitment to the Split T-Formation. The Pitt schedule was variously described by sportswriters as “suicidal” or “murderous”. Starting off with three losses, QB Rudy Mattioli was replaced by soph Cornelius Salvaterra. Complications arose as Coach Dawson was hospitalized with what the doctors diagnosed as “a heart irregularity” and he would never again coach although he did retire to Florida and live comfortably. Once again, AD Tom Hamilton had to step into the shoes of head coach and he did so immediately before playing his alma mater, the undefeated Naval Academy, in the season’s fourth game. In an emotional contest, Pitt pulled off the 21-19 upset with Salvaterra scoring two TD’s. The team was terribly inconsistent, playing magnificent games as they did against powerhouse Navy and in a 14-7 defeat of Northwestern. They also had horrible performances against Minnesota and Notre Dame. The 4-5 season brought out fine play from Salvaterra who rushed well and directed what was termed “the option offense without any options” as he ran almost all of the time. His passing was as inconsistent as the team’s overall play although sophomore ends Joe Walton and “Mean John” Paluck played well, especially on defense. Running back Lou Cimarolli returned from his academic woes of ’53 and he and Massillon, Ohio’s Bobby Grier were the bell cows all season. 

After his second stint as interim coach, Hamilton remained in his Athletic Director's office and hired former Pitt star John Michelosen to take the reins. A mid-thirties Single Wing quarterback for the Panthers, Michelosen had been a primary contributor of some of Sutherland’s most successful squads in 1934, ’35, and in the Rose Bowl season of ’36. During his three years of leadership, the squad lost but two games and he was considered to be Sutherland’s “clone” as he became an assistant under his former head coach. When Sutherland left for the professional Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Steelers, to no one’s surprise, Michelosen followed. When Sutherland succumbed to his brain tumor, Michelosen was promoted to the head coaching spot of the Steelers, and at thirty-four years of age, was the youngest in professional football. Often described as “the Gary Cooper strong, silent type”, after four years leading the Steelers he was fired because he would not switch from his beloved Sutherland Single-Wing offense. He became the defensive coach for Pitt in ’52 and had learned a lesson because upon being named as Pitt’s new head coach for the 1955 season, immediately installed the Split-T formation with Single-Wing “gang” blocking, using nimble "Corny" Salvaterra as his option quarterback. With Bobby Grier, Tom Jenkins, and transfer Ralph Jelic as backfield mates, Salvaterra ran a slick offense. Joe Walton received some "All" honors while the other end, John Paluck, threw his 215-pounds around well enough to be the second round draft choice of the Redskins where he bulked up to 240-pounds and played defensive end for ten years. The team responded well and ran to a 7-3 record and a Sugar Bowl berth against Georgia Tech. Sparks flew as Georgia’s segregationist Governor Marvin Griffin tried to pass legislation to prevent any Georgia school from playing against teams with "Negroes on the squad." In his impassioned protest he noted that “The South stands at Armageddon. The battle is joined. We cannot make the slightest concession to the enemy in this dark and lamentable hour of struggle.” His firebrand speeches sparked demonstrations on the campus of Georgia Tech where riot police and State Troopers were forced to deal with students who burned effigies of Griffin and occupied the administration building for three days. The protests, which involved more than 2000 Tech students led to the refusal of the Georgia Legislature to back the Governor. With Pitt's Chancellor Charles Nutting clearly stating, "No Grier, no game” the Tech Board Of Regents bowed to public demand and this had the two teams lined up against each other on January 2nd. Unfortunately, a phantom pass interference call against Grier that set up Tech’s winning TD in a 7-0 Pitt loss sullied the contest. Grier remains the man credited with breaking the color barrier in both the Sugar Bowl game and against Southern football teams.