Keith Schaefer

{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}

{{Infobox AFL biography

| name = Keith Schaefer

| image =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|12|20|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria

| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|8|21|1928|12|20|df=yes}}

| death_place = Mount Waverley, Victoria

| originalteam = South Surfers

| height = 180 cm

| weight = 76 kg

| position =

| statsend = 1953

| years1 = 1947–1953

| club1 = South Melbourne

| games_goals1 = 102 (22)

| careerhighlights = *Best & Fairest – 1952

}}

Keith Schaefer (20 December 1928 – 21 August 1976){{cite web|url=http://australianfootball.com/players/player/Keith%2BSchaefer/7643|title=Keith Schaefer – Player Bio|publisher=Australian Football|accessdate=6 December 2014}} was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Schaefer played 102 games for South Melbourne, between 1947 and 1953.{{cite web|url=http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/K/Keith_Schaefer.html| title=Keith Schaefer| publisher=AFL Tables}} A centreman, Schaefer was a Victorian interstate representative in 1948, at the age of just 19.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39086947 |title=A WORLD REVIEW SPORTS DIARY. |newspaper=Western Mail |location=Perth |date=22 July 1948 |accessdate=6 April 2014 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}} He won South Melbourne's best and fairest award in 1952.{{cite book|last=Lovett, Michael|title=AFL 2004 - The Official Statistical History Of The AFL| publisher=AFL Publishing|year=2004|isbn=0-9580300-5-7}}

At the end of the 1953 VFL season, Scheafer left South Melbourne to be playing coach of Deniliquin.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23302761 |title=Deniliquin job to Schaefer. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=27 November 1953 |accessdate=6 April 2014 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1955, Schaefer was captain-coach of Traralgon.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71886130 |title=THE FOOTBALL ARGUS. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=3 June 1955 |accessdate=6 April 2014 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}

He died in 1976 after losing his battle with bowel cancer.{{cite book|last1=Holmesby|first1=Russell|last2=Main|first2=Jim|title=The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers| publisher=BAS Publishing|year=2007|isbn=9781920910785}}