35 Facts About Larry Schmittou

From 1968 to 1978, Schmittou was the head coach of Vanderbilt University's baseball team, the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Larry Schmittou was later hired to serve as the Vice President of Marketing for the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team from 1983 to 1986.

Larry Schmittou headed a group that sought, unsuccessfully, to place a major league franchise in Nashville as part of the 1993 MLB expansion.

Larry Schmittou was chosen for the Southern League Executive of the Year Award in 1978 and was inducted into the Southern League Hall of Fame in 2016.

Larry Schmittou won the American Association Executive of the Year Award in 1987 and 1989.

In 2006, Larry Schmittou was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

Larry Schmittou was awarded the Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award by the Nashville Sports Council in 2011.

Larry Schmittou was born on July 19,1940, in Nashville, Tennessee, to parents Egbert and Jane Ann.

Larry Schmittou was named for Larry Gilbert, manager of the Nashville Vols Minor League Baseball team from 1939 to 1948.

Larry Schmittou continued to coach three youth baseball teams and play in a city league while attending Peabody.

Larry Schmittou taught in the Nashville public school system from 1961 to 1968.

Larry Schmittou 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 the football, basketball, and track teams at Bailey Junior High.

Larry Schmittou remained at Bailey for three years before being hired as the head basketball coach at Goodlettsville High School.

Two-and-a-half years later, Larry Schmittou left high school coaching for good.

In 1968, Larry Schmittou became the head baseball coach and head football recruiter at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

In 1973 and 1974, the teams won the SEC championship, and Larry Schmittou earned the SEC Baseball Coach of the Year Award.

Larry Schmittou was inspired to get involved with Minor League Baseball when he observed the large crowds the Chattanooga Lookouts saw after owner Walter Reed acquired the Birmingham Barons and relocated the team to Chattanooga in 1976.

Larry 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.

Larry Schmittou 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.

Larry 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.

Larry Schmittou was then granted a franchise in the Southern League, a class Double-A league, at an enfranchisement cost of $7,500.

Larry Schmittou called the expansion team the Nashville 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.

Nashville's original logo, which was used from 1978 into 1998, and was initially sketched by Larry Schmittou, reflected the city's association with the country music industry.

Larry Schmittou was chosen for the Southern League Executive of the Year Award and Sporting News Double-A Executive of the Year Award in 1978.

Larry Schmittou arrived at terms in July 1984 to purchase the Triple-A Evansville Triplets of the American Association for a reported sum of $780,000, with plans to move the franchise from Evansville, Indiana, to Nashville for the 1985 season.

Larry Schmittou wanted to send Nashville's existing Southern League franchise to Evansville to continue as the Triplets at Double-A.

The 1996 season marked the last that Larry Schmittou was the team's president and part owner.

From 1993 to 1994, Larry Schmittou operated a second minor league team, called the Nashville Xpress, at Greer Stadium.

Southern League president Jimmy Bragen approached Larry Schmittou about placing the team at Ernie Shore Field in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home of Larry Schmittou's Class A-Advanced Winston-Salem Spirits of the Carolina League.

The facility would have been inadequate for a Double-A team, so Larry Schmittou offered Greer as a temporary home for the team.

Larry Schmittou agreed to keep the team in Nashville for one more year.

From 1983 to 1986, Larry Schmittou served as the Vice President of Marketing for the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball club.

In 1981, Larry Schmittou led a group that brought minor league ice hockey back to Nashville at Municipal Auditorium.

Larry Schmittou's group sold the team after their second season, and the South Stars were relocated to Vinton, Virginia, as the Virginia Lancers.

Larry Schmittou purchased a basketball franchise in the newly-formed Global Basketball Association in 1990.