[3][4][5] Schmalz operated an intermediate senior ice hockey team named the Walkerton Capitols during the 1950s.
[3][4] He used Hartley House as his office for hockey business,[3] and occasionally hosted OHA executive meetings there.
During this time, he was chairman of Walkerton's business improvement association, and was the town's representative on the Bruce County Council.
[3] Schmalz was concerned with the level of physical play during the 1970–71 OHA season, and personally interviewed four players to dissuade them from further on-ice misconduct.
[15] Differences in the rules with the WCHL were resolved and the format for the 1972 Memorial Cup was subsequently changed from an Eastern Canada versus Western Canada final, into a round-robin format involving the champions of the WCHL, OHA Major Junior A Series and QMJHL.
He felt that criticism on financial compensation was unfair, since the Government of Ontario threatened to place a 10 per cent amusement tax on all tickets sold, if the league did not agree that a weekly maximum stipend given to players for expenses.
It included a clause in which 20 per cent of a player's earnings during his first three professional seasons would go back to the junior clubs to recuperate development costs.
[20] The new clause was a basis for potential legal action against the World Hockey Association (WHA) which had not made payments to the CAHA or OHA.
[19] Schmalz confirmed in January 1975, that development payments from the National Hockey League (NHL) were coming, and that the WHA was holding a meeting in February to discuss the issue.
Schmalz stated he would seek legal advice on the matter, with the possibility of suspending Napier for the remainder of the junior season.
[24] During a game against the Marlboros, St. Catharines Black Hawks owner Hap Emms ordered his players to wear their jerseys backwards and play with their sticks upside down in protest of Napier's contract.
[25] Schmalz later ruled Napier eligible to play, and suspended Emms for the remainder of the season and fined him $1,000.
The new organization wanted standard contracts for all players, consistent amounts for development fees, and for the NHL and the WHA to work together on a common drafting program to eliminate bidding wars.
[27][28] Schmalz defended the validity of the constitution, despite a challenge from Alan Eagleson that it violated antitrust laws in Canada and the United States.
[29] In November 1975, Schmalz decreed that future OMJHL games were to be attended by least two off-duty police officers as a deterrent to violence on ice or among the spectators.
[30] The Toronto Marlboros played an exhibition game against a Soviet Union all-star senior league team in December 1975.
[31] Problems in getting development payments from professional leagues continued, and Schmalz announced the possibility of legal action to recover delinquent fees for drafting junior-aged players.
[32] Schmalz filed legal action against the WHA on behalf of the OMJHL in 1976, citing failure to pay development fees for junior-aged players Paul Heaver and Bob Russell who turned professional.
Schmalz announced that two Northern Ontario cities were chosen by the OMJHL to co-host the 1978 Memorial Cup in Sudbury and Sault Ste.
He hoped for government intervention to protect the CMJHL after the results of the inquiry into junior hockey were made public.
[39] Schmalz contemplated legal action against Alan Eagleson and Birmingham Bulls owner John F. Bassett, for signing of junior-aged players under contract.
[40] The lawsuit against Eagleson and the Birmingham Bulls was announced in September 1978, on behalf of the London Knights and the Sault Ste.
Schmalz retired as of December 15, 1978, and was succeeded by Bill Beagan who had been commissioner of the International Hockey League.
[3] Schmalz's tenure as chairman lasted less than seventh months, and he was succeeded by the past-chairman, Frank McKinnon.
[1] Schmalz went on a deer hunting excursion on Manitoulin Island in November 1981 and returned home feeling ill.
[1] He was interred at Calvary Cemetery in Walkerton, and his pallbearers were colleagues from hockey his career, including Murray Costello and Bill Long.