Terry Richard Schmidt (born May 28, 1952) is an American

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

and former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player, playing

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

where he was an All-American. In 2020, he was nominated to be part of the 2021 National Football Foundation

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

Class. After completing his football career, Schmidt attended Loyola University Dental School in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

where he graduated first in his class in 1989. His entire professional dental career has been spent working in the

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

hospital system, first at the North Chicago VA Hospital where he was Chief of Dental Services for six years, later at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

and the Charles George VA Medical Center in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

. Schmidt recently retired as chief of dental services at the James H Quillen VA Medical Center in Johnson City, TN/ He is also a retired commander in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

. Dr. Schmidt and his late wife, Nancy Chamberlain Schmidt, performed missionary dentistry in third world countries, most notably in Central and South America and in Africa until Mrs. Schmidt's untimely death from ovarian cancer in March 2018. Dr. Schmidt married the former Janetta Sue Whitesel, a nurse, on November 8, 2018. In retirement, both are anticipating continuing missionary work. Dr. Schmidt also serves on the medical board of the Christians for World-Wide Evangelism in

. He is an adjunct faculty member in the Dental Assistant/Dental Hygenist program at the A.B Technical School in Asheville, NC.

References

NFL profile

* Indiana Football Hall of Fam

* Chicago Magazine Former Chicago Athletes - Where Are They No

1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Columbus, Indiana American football cornerbacks New Orleans Saints players Chicago Bears players Ball State Cardinals football players American dentists 20th-century American sportsmen {{defensiveback-1950s-stub