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Golf remains central in Schilling's life
By Bruce Brown
Written for Athletic Network
Don't ask Herb Schilling II to choose between celebrating the birthday of any of his 14 grandchildren, or playing a round of golf anywhere in the world, or running the resoundingly successful Schilling Distributing Co. that bears the family name.
He wants to do all those things, and somehow manages to do just that.
Walk into Schilling's well-appointed office, though, and golf''s prominence in his life becomes readily apparent – from the sets of clubs displayed in their bags, including the retired hole-in-one clubs group, to the pictures on the wall with immortals Ben Hogan and Arnie Palmer.
Even the wastebasket by his desk is designed as a truncated golf bag.
Schilling was a vital member of UL's Ragin' Cajuns golf program from 1968-71, playing under Whitey Urban for two years, then two years for coach Bill Bass. The 1971 squad of Schilling, Bill Daigle, Jimmy Thomas, Charles Lee and Tommy Barry won the Gulf States Conference championship and earned a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament in Chico, Cal.
“That was something not any of us had experienced before,” Schilling said. “We had morning and evening rounds, played on two courses. We're on the first tee, and they tell us, 'Don't venture off the fairway. There are rattlesnakes out there.' It looked like the Temple of Doom.
“During a practice round, there was a 4 1/2-foot snake on the green, and Barry was trying to get the snake to bite.”
During that trip, Schilling got a call from his father indicating that he had been drafted for military service as the Vietnam War was raging. That didn't do much for his concentration.
Accompanying the coach's wife on a side trip to nearby Honey Run Covered Bridge didn't help the cause, either, as team members stumbled across a local resident with a refreshing lack of clothing, waiting for her friends to come tubing down the river.
It was, after all, California in the 1970's.
But Schilling's focus was on the military obligation.
“On the flight back we had a connection in Dallas, and I ran into (Cajun baseball player) Eddie Mouton,” Schilling said. “He said he was in the Army Reserve at Ft. Ord, Cal.”
Not surprisingly, there was a 3-year waiting list for that group. But National Guard Officer Candidate School provided a chance to serve stateside and Schilling jumped at the chance.
He didn't enter the National Guard as an officer. Golf allowed him to become a member of the 4073rd Army Reserve Reception Station. The commanding officer Lt. Col. Womack LeJeune maintained a golf team to compete against the 8th Army from Oklahoma and therefore though he would be a good addition to the unit.
Safe from enemy fire, the Lafayette native earned his degree in management in 1972 and promptly joined in distributing Anheuser-Busch and other beverages under his father. When Schilling Sr. died in 1981, his son became owner and chairman of the board.
Success has been a byword during those 32 years.
In January, 2003, Schilling moved into a state-of-the-art 152,350 square foot facility, which includes 56,000 square feet of refrigerated warehouse, 26,400 of drive-thru loading (which features a sparkling, glass-smooth concrete floor), 10,650 loading dock, 30,000 in office space and 10.600 in a mechanic shop.
Due for further expansion this fall, the plant is located on Upper Lafayette land that has been in the family since 1933 and was once home to Schilling Sr.'s Tennessee walking horses.
“My father wanted me to be a baseball player,” Schilling said. “He came here in the 20's. He played second base and my uncle played first, and they formed the Evangeline League. Papa was co-owner of the Lafayette White Sox with Frem Boustany. My mother was a professor at USL. They married in 1932.”
Schilling II was a late arrival to the clan, eager to catch up in sports.
“I played baseball and basketball growing up,” he said. “We didn't have high school baseball at Lafayette High, so I played basketball as a freshman. Then I hurt me knee as a sophomore and took up golf.
“I always had good hand-eye coordination. I was born with that. I could chip and putt. If I was 100 yards away, I always felt I could make that shot. At (age) 40, I was hitting the ball better than I did in college because I was always trying to understand the game.”
As a UL freshman, Schilling joined teammates like Randy Sonnier, future PGA rules official Mike Shea, Ben Freeman and Tommy Thomas. He admits his sophomore and junior years were a bit unfocused, but he rebounded on that GSC title team.
“I would never shoot real low, but I was never real high, either,” Schilling said. “I would hold the team together. My last round at USL, at the GSC championships in Natchitoches, we were 1 over and Coach asked me to hold it together.
“I went birdie-eagle-birdie and shot a 69. I went out in style.”
He remained close to the game, becoming a pivotal figure in 1979 when the Louisiana Open was reborn after years drifting in neglect and indifference.
“Jay and Lionel Hebert, Al Marchbanks, Charlie Dugas and Luca Barbato resurrected the tournament,” Schilling said. “The tournament would go city-to-city. There was no host site. It had been dormant for 2-3-4 years.”
The Michelob Louisiana Open was soon a reality at Les Vieux Chenes. By 1991, Schilling tried to get a spot for the event on the Ben Hogan Tour but was turned down.
“ 'No,' they said, they wanted fresh faces,” Schilling said. “They played at the Country Club of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, and we held our own tournament. Then in October, I got a call from the PGA Tour and they said instead of fresh faces they wanted someone who could run a tournament.
“The catch was, they wanted us to move from October to March, and wanted to know if we could do it. What had I just gotten myself into?”
But phone calls to Le Triomphe and Mike Grimsley got the ball rolling, and today the event is one of the most popular of its kind. It has been affiliated with the Ben Hogan Tour, the NIKE Tour, Buy.com and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana while generating thousands of dollars for area charities.
Schilling retired from the Open board in 2002 after playing a pivotal role in its growth. That leaves more time to swing the club himself.
On any given day, with the right invitation or business connection, Schilling can be found on the course himself. One day, Peachtree in Atlanta, another day, Olympic, still another, Pebble Beach – his favorite.
Schilling has played over 400 courses around the world in places like Moscow, Monte Carlo and New Zealand, among dozens of others.
“Lately,” he said, “I've been spending a lot of time with my grandchildren, but I play with my sons and sons-in-law. I love to study, play and critique courses.”
Schilling still harbors the hope of altering the looks of both Oakbourne Country Club and Lafayette's City Park courses. And his dream is to design and build a local golf course that would include facilities for Cajun golfers to both play and hone their craft with practice features.
It would be a final, lasting legacy for someone seemingly destined for it.
“I think I'd like to build that course, and then hang it up,” he said.
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