In 33 years as an NFL scout, Bob Schmitz's work eclipsed his six seasons as a linebacker with the Steelers -- except for one memorable play.

Mr. Schmitz, who died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack, tackled Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown of Cleveland for a safety that gave the Steelers a 9-7 victory on Nov. 10, 1963, in Pitt Stadium.

"Gee, that's probably the best thing that ever happened to me," Mr. Schmitz said after he was named NFL Player of the Week for his winning score.

Mr. Schmitz, the Steelers 14th-round draft choice from Montana State in 1961, played linebacker in a career that ended in 1966, a season that he split between the Steelers and Minnesota Vikings. He later took up scouting in the NFL, first working for Pittsburgh-based Blesto in 1971 before joining the Steelers as an area scout in 1976.

He worked for the Steelers until 1995, when his former boss with the Steelers, Dick Haley, offered him more money to scout for the New York Jets.

Mr. Schmitz, 65, retired from that job on June 1 and appeared to be in good health. He was at his home in Glendale, Ariz., on Tuesday when he took a late-morning nap and never woke up.

"I saw him three or four weeks ago," said Haley, the former personnel director of the Jets and Steelers and now a consultant to the Jets. "He was all excited about retiring."

Haley and Steelers backfield coach Dick Hoak were teammates of Mr. Schmitz, a gregarious native of Wisconsin who became a better scout than he was a player.

"He was a pretty good player," Hoak said. "He was an excellent scout. I always told him, his one claim to fame was tackling Jim Brown in the end zone."

Kevin Colbert and Tom Donahoe, the current and former Steelers directors of football operations respectively, learned some of their trade from Mr. Schmitz as young scouts in the league.

"He was a great man, very pleasant to meet up with on the road," Colbert said. "During my younger years in scouting he was very helpful and willing to lend experience to an inexperienced guy."

Donahoe, now president of the Buffalo Bills, first met Mr. Schmitz the player when Donahoe was a ballboy for the Steelers in the 1960s at their training camp, then in Rhode Island.

Later, Donahoe became his boss in the Steelers scouting department.

"You always remember what a gentleman he was," Donahoe said. "He was courteous, polite. When I came to the Steelers, he was a scout and he was a big help to me. He had a very good eye for talent. Bob was a good worker. If he put his stamp on a player, you knew that player could play."

Haley said he weighed Mr. Schmitz's grades on defensive players more heavily than he did others.

"He had tons of experience both as a player and a scout," Haley said. "You always felt good if he graded a player."

Art Rooney Jr. hired Mr. Schmitz as a scout with the Steelers after seeing his work with Blesto.

"He was one of those Wisconsin farm boys with that hard-work ethic," Rooney said.

Mr. Schmitz made far more money in scouting than he ever did as a player.

"Bob played in the 1960s when they didn't make that much money to start with," said Jack Butler, Blesto's executive director. "They knew football and maybe got into coaching and scouting.

Mr. Schmitz is survived by his wife, Kathryn, daughters Meghan and Amy and sons Bobby and Michael. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.