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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Paul "Buddy" Short
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Home Phone: 337-234-5696 1969 and 1970 Louisiana State amateur golf champion; 1962,63,64,65 NAIA Golf All-American; GSC Champion with an all-time record score of 15 under par – conference championship 1965; LSU Invitational champion 1963 (most proud!) McNeese Invitational champion (1964) NAIA National Championship, Kansas City, KS-1962, 2nd place; Selected to the USL Hall of Fame in 1977; Past President- Cajun Golf Association-1982-2003, now CEO. I continue to be involved in the ongoing promotion of Cajun Golf; Past board member of the Louisiana Golf Association; Today, I am the Area (state) Leader for the Agency Building Division of AIG/American General- I have been a part of this division for 36+ years specializing in all fazes of the total financial planning process. I was recruited into this business by the legendary SLI/USL alumnus, Sidney C. Ory. Our main business purpose today is to assist people in accumulating wealth, transfering it to their heirs in an efficient manner, and reducing their taxes whenever possible. I have been selected to the highest honor for our company nationwide- the Legion of Honor- 3 times. I serve on a region advisory commitee for the western part on the United States; I have served as past President of Oakbourne Country Club and have been a board member of our Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. I am a current member of the Mike Bernard Chapter of the National Hibiscus Society – raising tropical hibiscus as a hobby. Come by, I’ll show you some beauties! I am married to Kathleen Romero Short (USL cheerleader 1967-68). My family consist of 3 children- Bobby-age 32, Christanna age 28, and Michael age 26. We have 5 grandchildren. They all live in Lafayette. We reside at 312 Vennard Ave. (next to Oakbourne Country Club, my lifelong dream) here in Lafayette. Submitted by Buddy Short, August 30, 2004 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Prides of Acadiana by Bruce Brown (1980) is a copyrighted enterprise. Paul “Buddy” Short: Golfer Extraordinaire When Roger Maris hit sixty-one home runs in 1961 for the New York Yankees, an asterisk was placed next to his home run total because he achieved that goal while playing more games than Babe Ruth did when he hit sixty round trippers. In a sense, Paul “Buddy” Short knows an asterisk belongs next to the sixty-one he shot a Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, although in one way that mark still stands as the golf course’s club record. Short fired that score in 1963, and the course was not what it has become today. He also played the holes out of sequence. But one can look at the sixty-one that Short shot in 1963 and the new course record of sixty-two he shot in August of 1979, and see a great deal of what makes one of USL’s great golfers tick. When Short fired a sixty-one, he was a sophomore at Southwestern, well on his way to what would become the most acclaimed golfing career at the school. That year he would be named NAIA All-American for the first of three straight years, and he would go on to lead USL to its first Gulf States Conference team title in golf by setting a conference tournament record. All that lay brimming on the horizon in 1963, but there was more beyond for Short to discover about himself as a golfer, and later as a successful insurance businessman in Lafayette. When Short came in with a sixty-two at Oakbourne in August of 1979 it represented a far more satisfying accomplishment than did his earlier feat. “The golf course is so much more mature today than it was when I shot a sixty-one,” he noted. “It’s a toughter course, and we were playing from the championship tees, and playing the ball ‘down’. “What made it all the more satisfying was that when I shot sixty-two I was playing with friends who I had known since my junior golf days, Tommy Thomas and Bob Rodgers. We shared some great times together. “Bob was a teammate of mine when we won the GSC tournament in 1965, and Tommy came right after Bob and me at Southwestern. Tommy is my next door neighbor now.” “I had shot four sixty-three’s on the course, but the sixty-two was special, and I birdied the last hole to make it.” It is significant that Short conquered the Oakbourne course in its newer, tougher, “more mature” state, because the Lafayette native has likewise grown since that summer day he remembers so well in 1963. “I had shot a sixty-seven at that time for my previous best round at Oakbourne,” he recalled. “I started on number ten, teaching some kids how to play. They quit and went in after #13, so I went up the hill and joined Danny Barbato and Johnny Foreman at number one. By number six I was six under on the day and I thought if I could just par in, I’d shoot a 66 for my best ever. “Well, I birded six and seven and suddenly I’m eight under. I had an eight-foot birdie putt at eight and made it. I then made a 30-foot birdie putt at number nine. That made me 9 under for 13 holes so I walked down the hill back to 14 to complete the full 18 holes. I was on the green on number fourteen and number fifteen, but missed both putts. “Then we got to number sixteen, which had always been my Waterloo,” he said. “Back in those days we always used to take a radio along with us when we played, but when we got to sixteen I turned the radio off because I wanted to concentrate. “Naturally I hooked it to the left on my drive, then missed the green with my approach. Fortunately, I chipped it unto the green, and made the putt for a par. “I turned the radio back on at seventeen, and I remember my favorite tune at the time coming on the radio. I said “Well, I have to make birdie on this hole, because that’s my song’. I knocked it on the green and made a forty-foot putt for a birdie”. “By the time I got to eighteen, all I could think about was getting a par for a sixty-two. When your best ever is a sixty-seven, a sixty-two is unreal. I hit a six-iron to the green within three feet of the cup, and I made the birdie. “I was in oblivion when I got to the clubhouse. I had lost my radio, and I was just walking around in a fog. But everyone always considered that record with an asterisk, because a few holes starting with number ten were out of sequence.” “Short’s love of golf had a rather late start, but once it hit, it hit hard. “I played baseball until I was thirteen,” he related. “Golf wasn’t the manly thing to do then and it certainly wasn’t the sport it is today. Also, junior golf had all its tournaments in the summer months when I was playing baseball.” Short’s father Paul was such an accomplished golfer that he might have had a pro career had not World War II interrupted his progress. Buddy’s mother, Laura, took up the game when Oakbourne was formed and the two parents often encouraged their only child to enjoy the sport they enjoyed. “My dad would ask me to come out and play,” Short said. “I would hit those “pg” balls with holes in them in the back yard, but wouldn’t go out on the course. In April of 1957 I did go out and play with my parents late in the afternoon. I played with my mom’s clubs and I shot a 62 for nine holes. I was hooked! That summer Short played junior tournaments instead of his beloved baseball, and by the next summer, the insatiable golfer was shooting in the seventies at age fourteen. “I played thirty-six holes a day. I got so involved with golf, that I didn’t get a driver’s license until I was almost severteen, and that was only because I was going on a double date and the other guy couldn’t get his car. I figured it was about time to get my license. “Before that, a driver’s test would have taken away from my time playing golf. By the time I was in high school at Cathedral-Carmel, I was playing golf instead of baseball, and the baseball coach wanted to know why.” The reason, quite simply, was that Short, a good natural athlete who had been solid in baseball, was well on his way toward fame in another sport. While in high school, Short won the State Jaycee tourney twice, and the taste of victory was like nectar. “Once you’ve won, second place is not as satisfying,” he noted. “You develop a different attitude, an attitude of knowing that you can win again if you’ve done it once. You begin to see yourself with a different eye. “You have to keep proving yourself after that. In any tournament you’re in, the defending champion is always held in a certain awe. Other players will watch him practice instead of working on their own games – which of course, helps the champion all the more. The defending champion had that confidence that allows him to set his goals higher. When you set your goals higher and higher, it makes a big difference in career success. Golf is a unique sport in that your best round is always your goal. You aren’t competing with someone else so much as you are competing with yourself to be the best you can be.” The best Buddy Short could be turned out to be something else again. As a freshman, he finished second in the GSC tournament, and won the freshman division of the highly-regarded LSU Invitational, both of which had an uplifting affect on his collegiate career. “Louisiana Tech was always the ultimate to shoot for in the conference,” Short said. We had never won the GSC and Short was selected as an All-American three times during his outstanding golf career Tech always had good players. When I was second in the conference tournament as a freshman, it had a positive carryover effect for the following year. “The LSU Invitational and the entire SEC was major level competition,” he added. “And my sophomore year I came back and won the whole tournament with a new record. No one had even won the freshman division, and then come back a year later to win the tournament. Again, it goes back to constantly proving yourself over and over.” Also, as a sophomore, Short tied for second in the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City – a feat which led to his being selected All-American three years running off of his performance in that tourney in each of his final three years. The GSC title followed his junior year, as did a sterling per-round average of 69.7. “You have to play exceptionally good golf to average in the sixties,” he asserted. “I remember my last dual match, I had to shoot in the sixties to wind up averaging in the sixties. My goal became, not beating the other player, so much as it was to shoot in the sixties.” As one would expect, Short shot a sixty-six. Then in 1965, Short’s collegiate golfing career came to a fitting conclusion as the Ragin’ Cajuns combined for a team total that was five under par and good enough for the first team title in Southwestern history. In that tournament at Natchitoches, Short blazed in with a new individual record of 201, fifteen-under par. This broke the previous record of ten under par held by Roy Pace. The team totalled 859 to runnerup McNeese at 889. Bob Rodgers finished third with 213, Craig Burns forth with 215, and Gene Eleazar had a 230 total. Short’s rounds of 66, 67, and 68 were too much for anyone to catch. With that as a spark, the team went on to a third place finish in the NAIA team totals, putting the group of Short, Rodgers, Burns, Eleazar and Ben Freeman down as a team to be remembered. “That,” said Short with a satisfied smile, “was the perfect way to go out in college – winning the conference title again and leading the team to the team championship. We set a precedent for other USL teams to match.” “After our team, USL began to get more local golfers like Tommy Thomas, Chad Williams, John Davis, Larry Aillet, Randy Sonnier, etc. We helped get more emphasis placed on the sport, and the number of golf scholarships grew from one to four.” With all that as background, how could Short help but hear the call of the pro tour? A funny thing happened on the way to the Masters, so to speak, when Short changed college curriculums after three and one half years at Southwestern from management to architecture. “In a way, that was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me in the long run,” said Short. “I got a summer job with an architectural firm in Memphis, and I was given a world of responsibility even though I had only worked on abstract stuff in school.” “I was eager to learn and they kept piling on the work. Then it came time to go back to school in the fall, and I went back to the abstract stuff. After all that I had learned and done that summer going back to the abstract stuff became very difficult and I lost interest.” “I dropped out in Novermber. I just couldn’t go with those preliminary art courses any more. That following spring I went back to finish up in management.” “What had happened by that time was that I had lost the edge of constant competition and had lost some of my interest in golf. By that time, too, I had gained some maturity, and I began to look at the long-range picture.” Then, with golf serving as a great way to get introduced to clients – especially after Short won the State Amateur crown in 1969 and seventy, the onetime baseball enthusiast began his career in the business world. “I was able to use my golf reputation as a business asset,” he admitted. “Because I had paid the price of hard work that it takes to play well.” “I still love golf, and I play more tournaments now than before,” he added. He and Thomas are an almost constant pair at four-ball tournaments and are fixtures when winnings are announced. And, although business calls far too often now for him to play thirty-six holes a day, Buddy Short is highly likely to grab his clubs and take to the links on a moment’s notice. He has put the things of youth behind him in many ways, just as his sixty-two at Oakbourne established a true standard of excellence for other golfters to shoot for, rather than his earlier sixty-one. He still considers that sixty-two to be the more satisfying because of the maturity of the course, his companions, and himself. But he also can recall every detail of his sixty-one back in his youth. The bug bit hard, and the love stayed. Prides of Acadiana by Bruce Brown (1980) is a copyrighted enterprise. * * * * * * * * * * “The Second Half” by Buddy Short As I read through Bruce Brown’s article again and again, it reminded me of sitting in the stands of an exciting football game still in progress. The first half has been played and it has truly been an incredible game. Now the second half is underway. I’m sitting there watching the action and it’s one of the most memorable games I’ve ever seen. And even though the game is not officially over, I already know who the winner will ultimately be. It will be…….ME! It’s hard for me to believe that the year 1980 was 28 years ago, but it is. It’s equally hard to comprehend that just yesterday I was playing baseball at Lafayette High School, the first Lafayette High School on University. That baseball diamond and all that Bruce wrote were all a part of “the first half” of my life’s scrapbook. As it’s turned out, the second half has been quite memorable as well.. Golf continued to be a strong part of my makeup, but from then on it took on a totally different meaning. Oh sure, I played in the occasional tournament and even continued to have a limited degree of success. There were the occasional victories, but they became fewer and further apart. It became obvious that the second half of my life would involve a clearer focus and a different attitude towards the game. Now the game that I loved so much had moved down my priority list and family, friends, work, and even a few future hobbies would become much more important. Being associated with the legendary Sidney C. Ory was a blessing. With his direction and personal mentoring, combined with my own commitment and work ethic, our personal and business relationship could not have been better. I was very lucky, but I also worked hard. Our insurance, and later investment business, would grow and as we grew, others wanted to join us and to be a part of our team approach. That stayed solid for over 30 years(.) and even after Mr. Ory retired he would still call me to walk next door to give him an update. On one occasion he called and I proudly went to see him. I walked in and he was sitting in his recliner with a cigar hanging from his lips. I looked at him and said, “You know ‘O’, which is what I called him, Us Cajuns are used to riding in the back of the bus”. He answered, “yep, sure are.” I then looked back at him and said, “but you know what the best part is ‘O’, Us Cajuns done moved up the front row!” What he didn’t know was that the group of associates we had started together and I had continued to nurture and add to, had just finished the year #1 in the entire nation. He was so proud of me and I was so proud to be able to deliver the message. He was an amazing individual and his simple philosophy about work, was as follows: “Nothing is work if you really enjoy doing it!”I later adopted it myself. He was so right. The game of golf provided me with many wonderful stories and if someone asked me today to pick just one, I would choose this one for it alone says so much about this wonderful game that has taught me so much about life in general and also what it takes to be successful as a business person. In August of 1991 a friend of mine asked me to be his partner in one of the state’s oldest championships, “The Deep South 4 Ball” in Alexandria. I was complimented by the invitation and even though I was not in peak playing form, I accepted his invitation to compete. As the championship wore on, much to everyone’s surprise, we were having some success and playing quite well. The funny thing is that one of the main topics of discussion in the newspaper was not our good playing, but rather “my age”. No question about it, normally at the championship level, youth takes over. Those of us that play the game understand that but we continue to play on regardless. A funny thing happened that week as the “old” team won the championship. I was all smiles and glad to once again be in the winner’s circle. It had truly been a long time. As we headed home that evening both of us were feeling proud of our accomplishment, something hit me that I had never considered before. As he drove I became somewhat emotional and said, “What a game we play”. He looked back at me and replied, “you’re sure right”. Then I hit him with this and I truly believe that it says a lot. I said, “What other sport could you not only play, but also compete at the same level, and be a part of a championship over a 30 year span?” He looked back at me and I said, “Chad, what you probably don’t know is, my partner and I won this tournament in 1961.” Wow, a sport of a lifetime and the best part is it’s not over yet. There may not be many victories to add to that sports scrapbook, but there’s still enjoyment and many fond memories yet to be experienced. And now as I get closer and closer to that 2 minute warning, I have two new things on my horizon that have once again totally changed my priorities. Funny how that happens? Monday is my favorite day of the week. Why, you ask? Because at 5:10 PM I will be hand in hand with three of my little granddaughters. We’ll be standing next to their mailbox and we’ll be listening and straining to see the first glimpse. You see, at 5:15 on Monday the ice cream truck comes by my daughter’s house and we all get to eat some ice cream together. Is that fun? I wouldn’t miss it for anything. And if I’m not playing with my grandchildren, then I’m playing with my new hobby which is raising Tropical Hibiscus flowers. My friends are surprised and, frankly, so am I. My new hobby has given me a new gasoline for an old motor. It’s given me a new energy and a new enthusiasm. It’s given me a new motivation to get up and to go to work. What’s surprising to me and others is I never knew I really liked this stuff, but I obviously do. It has been a life’s blessing and I am so appreciative that at this late stage of a life that I have found my answer. I have been a very fortunate person. I’ve had the support and good fortune of family and good friends. I’ve been given the opportunity to pursue a sport that has lasted me a lifetime and provided me with the individual challenges to test my resolve. It has taught me so much about life in general and has provided me with a simple strategy that I have tried to live and play by for a lifetime…….. 1)…”Choice not chance determines destiny”……..you choose success, no one gives it to you. 2)…”Today’s Preparation determines Tomorrow’s Achievement”……you prepare every day for the rest of your life ahead. and finally…. 3)…”All of the Secrets of Success will not work, unless you do”……I offer no explanation I hope my grandchildren learn this from their Papa Bud. They would honor me forever. See you at the post game party………….Buddy Submitted by Buddy Short, May 20, 2008.
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