Alex Schoenbaum
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Alex Schoenbaum (August 8, 1915 – December 6, 1996) was an American collegiate
football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
and businessman in the
hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It includes hotels, tourism agencies, restaurants and bars. Sector ...
, eventually operating a chain of restaurants and later, motels. He is best remembered for developing the
Shoney's Shoney's is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It operates restaurants in 17 states, primarily in the South with additional locations in the Midwest and lower Mid-Atlantic states. Founder Alex Schoenbaum opene ...
restaurant chain in the southeastern United States, most of which were originally franchised Big Boy locations.


Childhood and college football career

Schoenbaum was born in Petersburg, Virginia to Emil B. (1884 - 1962) who was born in Poland, and Goldie R. (1879 - 1951) (née Masinter), who was born in Lithuania. Alex grew up in
West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
with three brothers, and worked in his father's bowling establishments in Charleston and Huntington. He played tackle at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
from 1936 to 1938. He received an honorable mention as AP All- Western Conference in 1936 and as
Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice wa ...
All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
honorable mention and AP All-Western Conference second team in 1937 and 1938. He was a 7th round selection (55th overall pick) of the
Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
in the 1939 NFL Draft.


Hospitality industry

Following his sporting career, Schoenbaum went on to found the
Shoney's Shoney's is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It operates restaurants in 17 states, primarily in the South with additional locations in the Midwest and lower Mid-Atlantic states. Founder Alex Schoenbaum opene ...
restaurant chain, a regional organization which is one of the largest businesses to have originated in
West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
and was at one time one of the largest family owned restaurant chains in the United States. In 1947 Schoenbaum opened his first
drive-in restaurant A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollers ...
, Parkette, in Charleston. In 1952, Schoenbaum obtained the regional marketing rights to the Big Boy trademark, two years later Parkette being renamed Shoney's. Besides being an operator, Schoenbaum also aggressively subfranchised to others, many as Shoney's and some in the 1950s using their own name. In this list, the Rochester franchise is Becker's, the Wheeling franchise is Elby's, the Philadelphia franchise is Tune's and the Chattanooga franchise is Shap's. In 1971, Nashville–based Shoney's operator Raymond L. Danner acquired Shoenbaum's company to form Shoney's Big Boy Enterprises, Inc., a
publicly held company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...
. With Danner as president and CEO, Schoenbaum became chairman of the board of directors. When Shoney's original franchise agreement with Big Boy expired in 1976, ''Big Boy Enterprises'' was dropped from the name. In 1982, Shoney's opened two non–Big Boy restaurants (called ''Shoney's Towne and Country'') in Tallahassee, Florida, Big Boy territory assigned to
Frisch's Frisch's Big Boy is a regional Big Boy Restaurants, Big Boy restaurant chain with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. For many years a Big Boy franchisee, in 2001, Frisch's became the exclusive owner of the Big Boy trademark in Indiana, Kentucky, a ...
Restaurants, causing Frisch's to sue for unfair competition. In 1984, Shoney's–now the largest regional franchisee–left the Big Boy system removing over a third of the American units. Shoney's prevailed in the Frisch's lawsuit, the final appeal adjudicated after separation from Big Boy. With Schoenbaum as chairman, the Shoney's organization also developed and operated the
Captain D's Captain D's is an American fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in seafood and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The chain was founded as Mr. D's Seafood and Hamburgers by Raymond L. Danner Sr. on August 15, 1969, in Donelson, T ...
fast food seafood chain,
Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken is a casual dining franchise founded in 1965 specializing in chicken, homestyle sides, and biscuits. History After the sale of KFC in 1962, Lee Cummings (the nephew of KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders) began dev ...
fast-food chain, now part of Mrs. Winner's and three casual dining chains, The Sailmaker, Pargo's, and the Fifth Quarter Steakhouses. In 1976, the company started a lodging chain, with properties branded as "Shoney's Inn" motels. By the 1990s, the company operated over 1,000 restaurants.


Legacy

Alex Schoenbaum died on December 6, 1996, almost 50 years after he began what became his hospitality empire. He was survived by wife Betty Schoenbaum (née Frank), (who became active in civic matters and philanthropy in West Virginia, and her winter hometown of
Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...
) and their four children Joann, Jeff, Emily, and Raymond. They had seven grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren. Betty died on July 31, 2018, at the age of 100. In
Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
, where the business began, the Schoenbaum Family Enrichment Center and the Schoenbaum Soccer Stadium were family contributions to the community. In addition, at the Max M. Fisher College of Business in
Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...
, the undergraduate business program is housed in Schoenbaum Hall named in his memory. In 2018, the Alex Schoenbaum scholarship and the Alex Schoenbaum Jewish Scholarship Fund was established through the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and Alex's daughter, Emily to bolster African American Jewish relations in New Orleans.


References


External links


Video: Alex Schoenbaum at Shoney's No. 1 Parkette in Charleston, 1971
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wmv format, 0:45 minutes. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenbaum, Alex 1915 births 1996 deaths Sportspeople from Charleston, West Virginia Jewish American sportspeople American football defensive tackles Ohio State Buckeyes football players Businesspeople from West Virginia American restaurateurs American hoteliers 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews