Schimmelbusch played in 306 games, including 29 finals games, for the North Melbourne Football Club, which was then a club games played record.[2] He was recruited in 1973 from the Brunswick Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), where he won the J. J. Field Trophy as the VFA second division's best and fairest in 1972. His retirement in 1987 was forced due to a serious knee injury sustained during a match against the Sydney Swans.[3]
Schimmelbusch was appointed coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in 1990. The team did not perform well; and, in the 1993 pre-season, after a 147-point loss to Adelaide, Schimmelbusch was sacked and replaced by Denis Pagan, who had previously coached North Melbourne's under-19 and Essendon Football Club's reserves teams.
Schimmelbusch's brother Daryl also played for the North Melbourne Football Club.