[6] He was educated at King Edward VII High School and then studied at the University of South Africa where he obtained a master's degree in Communications.
Stan Schmidt is credited with formally introducing karate to South Africa in the 1950s along with other men such as Len Barnes, Richard Salmon, James Rousseau, Des Botes, and Norman Robinson.
He then began training himself at his judo dojo and there, he encouraged other judoka to join him, including Ken Wittstock, Norman Robinson and Eddie Dorey.
Whilst in Japan Schmidt fought the then All-Japan Grand Champion Hiroshi Shirai who had won both kata and kumite in 1962.
The next year, in 1965, Schmidt and Robinson brought four Japanese instructors to South Africa: the returning Taiji Kase; Keinosuke Enoeda; Hirokazu Kanazawa; and Hiroshi Shirai.
In the late 1980s, when Schmidt was training for his 7th Dan in Japan he spent time under the teaching of Tetsuhiko Asai.
[1] Schmidt was the subject of an episode of SABC's People of the South, a talk show hosted by Dali Tambo that focused on celebrating the lives of different personalities from southern Africa to promote a sense of national identity and pride by reflecting on their achievements and acclamations.