Larry Schmittou is a Nashville resident and was born on July 19, 1940. Larry was President and General Manager of the Nashville Sounds Professional Baseball Club from 1978 to 1997.  He is currently President and Co-Owner of S & S Sports, which is one of the nation’s largest owners of bowling centers.                                  

    He graduated from Cohn High School in 1958 and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Peabody Teacher’s College (now part of Vanderbilt University) in 1962.  He did post-graduate work at Peabody College from 1962 through 1964  From 1961 through 1968.

    Larry was a teacher in the Nashville public school system where he also served as the head football and basketball coach at Bailey Junior High School from 1962 through 1965 and later became the head basketball coach at Goodlettsville High from 1966 through 1968. From 1965 through 1968 he was also a territorial scout for the Cleveland Indians Baseball Club.


 

Larry Schmittou:

Award winning coach, teacher, entrepreneur and Tennessee Baseball Coach Hall-of-Famer.

Larry Schmittou

    Larry won over 500 games as a sandlot baseball coach, winning twenty city championships, eight state championships and had six teams reach the national finals in their age groups. 

    Larry became the head baseball coach and head football recruiter at Vanderbilt University in the spring of 1968 and proceeded to win over 300 games, including four consecutive Eastern Divisional championships and the overall SEC (Southeastern Conference) championships in 1973 and 1974.

    In 1978 Larry put together a group of investors to bring professional baseball back to Nashville.  They have owned nine different minor league teams during the past 15 years.  The Nashville Sounds began as a Double A club for the Cincinnati Reds and is now a member of the prestigious American Association.


    Larry has had much success in college and professional baseball and his numerous honors include the 1973 and 1974 SEC “Coach of the Year” award.  He is also a two time recipient of the Larry MacPhail Award (1978 and 1980).  He was the Sporting News Double A and Southern League “Executive of the Year” in 1978 and 1981.  He was the 1989 Triple A Sporting News “Executive of the Year”.  He also served as the Double A and Triple A representative on the National Association Professional Baseball League Executive Committee. 

    Larry was inducted into the Tennessee Baseball Coaches League Executive Committee.  Larry was inducted into the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1996, and is also a member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.


    Larry served as Vice President as Texas Rangers Baseball Club 1983 through 1986 and also President and part owner of the Nashville South Stars Hockey Club and the Music City Jammers Basketball team.

    In 1993 and 1994 Larry hosted two baseball teams at Herschel Greer Stadium:  the Triple A Nashville Sounds and the Double A Nashville Xpress.  The Triple A Nashville Sounds won the 1993 American Association Eastern Division and the Double A Nashville Xpress won the first half championship for the Western Division of the Southern League.


    Larry was one of 25 individuals selected by the editors of Baseball America on their 25th anniversary whom they feel have made the most significant contributions to baseball in the past 25 years.

    In August of 2000 Larry formed S & S Family Entertainment, LLC to purchase family fun centers with the main activity being bowling.  In eight years S & S has become the fourth largest bowling chain in the world with thirteen Family Fun Centers including 502 lanes of bowling and employing 500+ employees. 

    S & S owns Centers in Nashville, Murfreesboro, Hendersonville and Knoxville in Tennessee, three large Centers in Louisville, Kentucky, one in Paducah, Kentucky, one in New Albany, Indiana, and one in Cincinnati, Ohio.