Larry Schmittou | |
|---|---|
 Schmittou in 1984 | |
| Born | (1940-07-19)July 19, 1940 (age 84) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Peabody College |
| Occupation(s) | Educator Entrepreneur Vanderbilt Commodores baseball coach Minor League Baseball owner/executive Vice President of Marketing for theTexas Rangers (MLB) |
| Spouse | Shirley (1959–present)[1] |
Larry Schmittou (born July 19, 1940) is an Americanentrepreneur and formerbaseball executive andcoach. He owns L&S Family Entertainment LLC, which operates a chain ofbowling centers inTennessee,Kentucky,Ohio, andIndiana.
From 1968 to 1978, Schmittou was the head coach ofVanderbilt University's baseball team, theVanderbilt Commodores. From 1978 to 1996, he owned shares in severalMinor League Baseball teams, beginning with theNashville Sounds. He also owned shares in theDaytona Beach Islanders,Eugene Emeralds,Greensboro Hornets,Huntsville Stars,Salem Redbirds,Salt Lake City Gulls,Wichita Pilots/Wranglers, andWinston-Salem Spirits baseball teams as well as a minor league hockey team and minor league basketball team.
While president of the Sounds, Nashville led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance in their first season and went on to lead theSouthern League in attendance in each of their seven seasons as members of the league. The franchise was recognized for its promotion efforts when it won theLarry MacPhail Award for outstanding minor league promotions in 1978, 1980, and 1981. Schmittou was later hired to serve as the Vice President of Marketing for theTexas RangersMajor League Baseball (MLB) team from 1983 to 1986. He also headed a group that sought, unsuccessfully, to place a major league franchise in Nashville as part of the1993 MLB expansion.
Schmittou was chosen for the Southern League Executive of the Year Award in 1978 and was inducted into theSouthern League Hall of Fame in 2016. He won theAmerican Association Executive of the Year Award in 1987 and 1989. In 2006, Schmittou was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.[2] He was awarded theFred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award by the Nashville Sports Council in 2011.[3]
Larry Schmittou was born on July 19, 1940, inNashville, Tennessee, to parents Egbert and Jane Ann.[4] He was named forLarry Gilbert,manager of theNashville VolsMinor League Baseball team from 1939 to 1948.[5] Schmittou was the youngest of five children.[4]
When he was a junior in high school, Schmittou began coaching youthbaseball teams for 9 to 12-year-old children.[6] Concurrently, he pitched on the Cohn High School baseball team.[7] After graduating, he enrolled atPeabody College, which is known for its teacher education program.[8] He continued to coach three youth baseball teams and play in a city league while attending Peabody.[9] By the end of his sandlot coaching career, Schmittou had over 500 wins, 20 city championships, 8 state championships, and 6 of his teams went to national tournaments.[9]
Schmittou taught in theNashville public school system from 1961 to 1968. He was originally hired and assigned to teach at Haywood Elementary, but not wanting to teach at an elementary school without athletic programs, Schmittou instead accepted an offer to become the head coach of thefootball,basketball, andtrack teams at Bailey Junior High.[10] He remained at Bailey for three years before being hired as the head basketball coach at Goodlettsville High School.[11] Two-and-a-half years later, Schmittou left high school coaching for good. During this time, he had also worked for several years as a territorialscout for theCleveland IndiansMajor League Baseball team.[12]
In 1968, Schmittou became the head baseball coach and head football recruiter atVanderbilt University in Nashville.[13] From 1971 to 1974, he led theVanderbilt Commodores baseball team to win four consecutiveSoutheastern Conference (SEC) East Division titles.[13] In 1973 and 1974, the teams also won the SEC championship, and Schmittou earned the SEC Baseball Coach of the Year Award.[13] Through 11 years of coaching (1968–1978), Schmittou led his teams to a 306–252–1 (.548) overall record and a 98–98 (.500) SEC record.[13]
Larry Schmittou was inspired to get involved withMinor League Baseball when he observed the large crowds theChattanooga Lookouts saw after owner Walter Reed acquired theBirmingham Barons and relocated the team toChattanooga in 1976.[14][15] Schmittou was told by multiple Major League Baseball teams that they would be willing to put a minor league affiliate in Nashville if he provided a suitable ballpark.[14]
He learned from a member of the Metro Board of Parks and Recreation that neither the Parks Board or the city of Nashville would be willing to pay for such a park.[14] So, Schmittou, along with help fromcountry musicianConway Twitty, put together a group of investors including other country artistsCal Smith andJerry Reed, as well as other Nashvillians, to finance a stadium and a minor league team.[16][17] Twenty shares valued at US$15,000 each were issued; Schmittou purchased 2 shares, or 10 percent of the team,[18] and Twitty purchased 4 shares for a 20 percent stake.[19] The Metro Parks Board agreed to lease to Schmittou the site of Nashville's former softball fields on the grounds ofFort Negley, anAmerican Civil War fortification, approximately two miles (3.2 km) south of downtown, for a period of 20 years as long as he built a stadium with a minimum capacity of 6,500 at a cost of at least $400,000 within 10 years.[20] In the second ten years, he would be required to pay the city seven percent of the team's total revenue.[20]
Stoll-Reed Architects advised Schmittou that construction of a suitable stadium would cost between $300,000 and $500,000,[20][21] but bids for the project ranged from $980,000 to $1.2 million.[20] Schmittou looked to local suppliers to donate construction materials, took out a $30,000 loan from a bank, sold season tickets in advance of having a team, and even mortgaged his own home to help pay for the facility.[21] The actual cost totaled $1.5 million.[19] The ballpark would be namedHerschel Greer Stadium in posthumous honor ofHerschel Lynn Greer, a prominent Nashville businessman and the first president of the Nashville Vols, whose family donated $25,000 for stadium construction.[22]
Having secured a stadium, Schmittou and general manager Farrell Owens attended the 1976Winter Meetings in hopes of landing a major league affiliate. After sending letters to all 26farm team directors, the pair received a letter fromSheldon "Chief" Bender of theCincinnati Reds. Bender met with the pair and agreed to put a team in Nashville provided a stadium was built.[23] Schmittou was then granted a franchise in theSouthern League, a classDouble-A league, at an enfranchisement cost of $7,500.[24]
He called the expansion team theNashville Sounds, a play on the term "Nashville sound", a subgenre of American country music that traces its roots to the area in the late-1950s.[25][26] Nashville's original logo, which was used from 1978 into 1998, and was initially sketched by Schmittou, reflected the city's association with the country music industry.[25] It depicted a mustachioed baseball player, nicknamed "Slugger", swinging at abaseball with anacoustic guitar, a staple of country music, in place of abat.[25] Further illustrating the city's musical ties was the typeface, with letters that resembledG-clefs, used to display the team name and the cap logo which resembled aneighth note.[27]
The Sounds led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance by drawing 380,000 fans to Greer Stadium in their first season.[17] Nashville went on to lead the Southern League in attendance in each of their seven seasons as members of the league.[17] Schmittou's business philosophy revolved around earning profits not from ticket sales, but from the sale of souvenirs and concessions.[28] This philosophy also involved promoting family-friendly entertainment rather than baseball games.[21][29] Through the mid-1980s, the Sounds offered nightly promotions and treated fans to a carnival-like atmosphere between innings.[29][30] Schmittou and his team developed a promotional calendar that regularly featured giveaways ranging from T-shirts and trading cards to youth baseball equipment and even a player's used 1969Buick Electra.[30][31] Other promotions varied from discount ticket nights and buyout nights, where local businesses gave away tickets,[29] to the more unusual "Tight Fittin' Jeans" Contest in which the woman wearing the tightestjeans would win a pair.[32] The franchise was recognized for its promotion efforts when it won theLarry MacPhail Award for outstanding minor league promotions in 1978, 1980, and 1981.[33] Schmittou was chosen for the Southern League Executive of the Year Award andSporting News Double-A Executive of the Year Award in 1978.[34] The Southern League inducted Schmittou into theirHall of Fame in 2016.[35]
In 1983, Schmittou noticed a 5 percent drop in season ticket sales, a higher ratio of no-shows from season ticket holders, and a slight decline in overall attendance.[36] These issues with spectator turnout were accompanied by a decline in local media coverage, particularly in regard to road games. To boost interest in the team, Schmittou tried to purchase a Triple-A franchise late in the 1983 season, but each of the two teams he considered chose to continue in their markets for 1984.[37] His desire to land a Triple-A team was part of a larger plan to put Nashville in a position to contend for a Major League Baseball franchise in the future.[38]
Schmittou arrived at terms in July 1984 to purchase theTriple-AEvansville Triplets of theAmerican Association for a reported sum of $780,000, with plans to move the franchise fromEvansville, Indiana, to Nashville for the 1985 season.[38] To prove to the team's Nashville banks, which would back the purchase, that the move was financially viable, Schmittou commissioned a survey to evaluate the potential turnout for a Triple-A team versus a Double-A team. Though the research proved to team owners that the move was a sensible decision, the banks were not impressed. As a result, the team switched banks and went ahead with the purchase and relocation.[36] The Southern League wanted Schmittou to surrender his franchise to the league, but he had plans to relocate the team instead.[39] He wanted to send Nashville's existing Southern League franchise to Evansville to continue as the Triplets at Double-A. However, a combination of the league's disapproval of the move and the City of Evansville being unwilling to upgradeBosse Field resulted in a move toHuntsville, Alabama, where the team became theHuntsville Stars.[39] The Triple-A Sounds carried on the history of the Double-A team that preceded it. The Triplets' legacy was retired, and the Stars were established as an entirely new franchise.[39]
As president of the Triple-A Sounds, Schmittou was selected as the American Association's Executive of the Year in 1987 and 1989,[40][41] as well as theSporting News Triple-A Executive of the Year in 1989.[2] The 1996 season marked the last that Schmittou was the team's president and part owner. With the city prepared to welcome aNational Football League franchise, theTennessee Titans, Schmittou felt that revenue would be drawn away from his baseball team, so he and businessman Walter Nipper sold their 59 percent stake in the Sounds to Chicago-based businessmen Al Gordon, Mike Murtaugh, and Mike Woleben for an estimated $4 million.[21][42]
From 1993 to 1994, Schmittou operated a second minor league team, called theNashville Xpress, at Greer Stadium. In conjunction with the1993 Major League Baseball expansion, the Double-ACharlotte Knights of the Southern League were selected to move up to Triple-A as anInternational League franchise.[43] This left the Southern League team without a home. Southern League president Jimmy Bragen approached Schmittou about placing the team atErnie Shore Field inWinston-Salem, North Carolina, home of Schmittou'sClass A-AdvancedWinston-Salem Spirits of theCarolina League. The facility would have been inadequate for a Double-A team, so Schmittou offered Greer as a temporary home for the team.[43] A one-year management arrangement was decided upon wherein Schmittou and the Sounds' staff would be responsible for taking care of the Southern League team.[44] This marked the first time that two minor league teams would operate in the same city since 1972, when theCharlotte Hornets and Charlotte Twins sharedCalvin Griffith Park.[45][46] By the end of the season, a deal was reached to relocate the Xpress toLexington, Kentucky, but the team owner was unable to get a new ballpark built in that city. Schmittou agreed to keep the team in Nashville for one more year.[43] After the failed attempt to relocate the team to Lexington, and evenBayamón, Puerto Rico, the Xpress left forWilmington, North Carolina, after the 1994 season, becoming thePort City Roosters in 1995.[47]
In addition to the Nashville Sounds, Huntsville Stars, and Winston-Salem Spirits, Schmittou also owned theDaytona Beach Islanders,Eugene Emeralds,Greensboro Hornets,Salem Redbirds,Salt Lake City Gulls, andWichita Pilots/Wranglers. By the end of 1996, Schmittou had sold all of his baseball teams and retired from the professional baseball business.[48]
From 1983 to 1986, Schmittou served as the Vice President of Marketing for theTexas RangersMajor League Baseball (MLB) club.[49]
In November 1985, Schmittou headed a delegation from Nashville that was one of 12 groups to make presentations to MLB owners and commissionerPeter Ueberroth regarding the viability of expansion in their cities.[50] The delegation was encouraged with their reception but were concerned that people may not know Nashville well enough to make it a strong contender.[50] The Governor's Commission on Major League Baseball entrusted Schmittou and other Sounds owners with ownership of a potential franchise and responsibility for the financial requirement set forth by the expansion committee.[51] Schmittou launched a drive to pre-sell 10,000 season tickets, which was met and exceeded.[52]
In June 1990, MLB announced its intentions to add two newNational League teams in a1993 expansion.[53] Joining Nashville in competition for these two spots wereBuffalo, New York;Charlotte, North Carolina;Denver, Colorado;Miami, Florida;Orlando, Florida;Phoenix, Arizona;Sacramento, California;St. Petersburg, Florida;Tampa, Florida;Vancouver, British Columbia; andWashington, D.C.[54][55] Schmittou gave a formal presentation to the National League Expansion Committee in September 1990.[56] His plan for MLB in Nashville included a proposed $40-million ballpark to be built at the convergence ofInterstate 24 andBriley Parkway that would have included a 150-foot (46 m) scoreboard shaped like the neck of a guitar and seated 40,000 people.[57] Along with the submission of a 120-page proposal, the committee was shown a video narrated byCountry Music Hall of Fame memberEddy Arnold, which extolled the suitability of a Nashville for a major league team.[58] On December 18, the committee released a short list of six finalist candidates—Nashville was not included on the list.[59] The two new franchises were eventually awarded to Denver (theColorado Rockies) and Miami (theFlorida Marlins).[60]
In 1981, Schmittou led a group that brought minor leagueice hockey back to Nashville atMunicipal Auditorium. TheNashville South Stars played the 1981–82 season in theCentral Hockey League, and the 1982–83 season inAtlantic Coast Hockey League. In both seasons, the South Stars served as an affiliate of theNational Hockey League'sMinnesota North Stars. Schmittou's group sold the team after their second season, and the South Stars were relocated toVinton, Virginia, as theVirginia Lancers.[61]
Schmittou purchased abasketball franchise in the newly-formedGlobal Basketball Association in 1990. TheMusic City Jammers played a Municipal Auditorium in the 1991–92 season. Low attendance resulted in relocating the team toJackson, Tennessee, atOman Arena, for the 1992–93 season. The league collapsed during the second season, as did the team.[62]
Schmittou formed Strike & Spare Family Entertainment LLC, which operates a chain of 15 bowling centers inTennessee,Kentucky,Ohio, andIndiana, in August 2000.[63][64]
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