After 99 years, World War II veteran Arnold Schwab has learned that life mostly comes down to luck… and sports.
• I was born and raised in Chicago. My father owned a dry-cleaning plant and sent me to military school. I wasn’t a hellraiser, but I needed the supervision.
• I dropped out of the University of Chicago. It wasn’t for me. After a few years, I went downtown to DePauw University and eventually went to law school.
• When I graduated college, in 1940, it looked like the draft for military service was on, and I was afraid to start my practice. Sure enough, I was drafted early, and I went into service in June of ’41. That wrecked my ambitions to become a practicing lawyer. I did some practicing of law in service. I wrote wills and things for the boys.
• I met Bob Hope. He came over with his group, and I had dinner with him. Then, Hope and I went walking on the beach across from Tunis, just before the invasion of Sicily, when the troops were being loaded in ships in that bay.
• I won a table-tennis tournament in Rome during the war. I was pretty good, but my prize for winning the tournament was to play the No. 1 player of Yugoslavia. He was a refugee in Italy. I had him, 18 to 11, and suddenly he discovered he had a spin that I couldn’t handle, and he ran a couple of games off of me. He made me look like an amateur—which I was, of course.
• After I was discharged, in January 1946, a friend of mine from the University of Chicago suggested I take one of his co-workers on a date. I said, “This is silly! I’ve taken every dog in your family out already.” So I took her out on a Wednesday night early, so I could get rid of her. Well, I’m still getting rid of her. We got along and became engaged in July of ’46, then got married in October.
• I moved to St. Louis in ’56. I was vice president of an oil company. Then, in 1962, I decided to start a toy-manufacturing company. We made sandboxes and picnic tables. It was named A. H. Schwab Company 4 J Brand. My children are the four Js: John Julie, Jan, and Joe [who owns Euclid Records].
• I’ve always enjoyed sports. I played football, basketball, and baseball for the high-school team. I think being an outdoors person has done a lot for me.
• In the 1980s, the White Sox were being sold. I was taking a Jacuzzi with a friend of mine involved in the financing. I said, “When I was 10 years old, I was a White Sox fan. I would love to get involved in that.” He said, “Well, let me see what I can do.” This was on Sunday. On Monday afternoon, he called me and said, “You’re in. How much do you want to put in there?” I said, “Whatever you put in, I’ll put in.”
• I’ve had a lot of great experiences, and I can’t say that I enjoyed all of them. But I’ve enjoyed looking back and reflecting upon them. Life has been very good to me. I was really lucky to have gone through all of this.
