| Quarterback | |
| Personal information | |
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| Date of birth: | |
| Career information | |
| College: Southern California | |
| NFL Draft: 1940 / Round: 13 / Pick: 119 | |
| No regular season or postseason appearances | |
| Career history | |
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never played pro football |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Ambrose "Amblin' Amby" Schindler is a former American collegiate football player, coach and Professional Football on-field official. He played college football for the University of Southern California.
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Schindler prepped at San Diego High School. A star quarterback for the USC Trojans, during the 1937 season he led the team in in rushing, scoring and total offense and was named to all-conference honors.[1] His senior year he led the Trojans to a share of the 1939 national championship: At the 1940 Rose Bowl, capping the 1939 season, Schindler ran for a touchdown and passed for another in a 14-0 victory over a Tennessee Volunteers team that had previously gone undefeated for 23 games and unscored upon for the previous 16 games (including the entire 1939 regular season); he was named the game's most valuable player. He went on to be the MVP in the 1940 College All-Star Game, held at Soldier Field in Chicago.[2][3]
During the end of his college career he also acted in Hollywood, appearing in The Wizard of Oz as one of the Winkies, and also as Jack Haley's Tin Man stunt double. He also appeared in Sailor's Lady (1940). While he enjoyed acting and stunt work, he opted to leave Hollywood to focus on his coaching career.[2]
Although selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 1940 draft, Schindler did not play in the National Football League. At the time, coaching at high school and college offered more financial security than the low pay NFL of the early 1940s. His first offer out of college was to coach at Glendale High School, so chose it over a professional career. He served in the Navy during World War II and returned to move into a long career as coach and instructor at El Camino College in Torrance, California. In addition, Schindler also was a longtime football game official, working for years in the American Football League and later officiating high school and college games.[2]
He was inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions Breitbard Hall of Fame in 1973.[4] He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2002.[5]
Schindler married his wife, Lucille, and they together had two children. His wife died in 1984. He did occasionally think about what his life would have been like if he played professional football, but part of his decision to select a more, at the time, stable career was because of his wife.[2]
Schindler loves surfing and bicycling and was an active surfer until age 75. He drives a Jaguar with a vanity license plate reading "X USC QB".[2]
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