Phil Robertson

Phil married his high school sweetheart Marsha "Kay" Carroway in 1966 after dating her since 1964. He has four sons Alan, Jase, Willie and Jep. Phil, his brother Si, and sons Jase, Willie, and Jep are known for their conservative Protestant Christian views and long beards.

A devout Christian, Phil is a member of as also elder at the White's Ferry Road Church of Christ located in West Monroe, and is quite candid on his faith and belief in the Almighty. He opposes abortion and dislikes modern technology. He is counted among the Christian conservatives in America and gets invitation every year to speak in different churches and organisations.

He was born on April 24, 1946, in Vivian, Louisiana, US in the poor family of Merritt (née Hale) and James Robertson as their fifth child among seven.

As a child he saw his family striving to meet ends. They lived in a humble log house with no electricity, running water and toilet facilities. The family sustained themselves by raising fruits and vegetables in their garden; on the cattle, chicken and pigs they raised; and hunting deer, fish and squirrels among others. Thus hunting became an integral part of Phil’s life since his formative years.

Phil later recalled in his memoir ‘Happy, Happy, Happy’ that even though circumstances during his childhood were quite challenging the family always remained happy and although it was the 1950s, they rather led a life as if in the 1850s.

During high school, Phil remained a good athlete and earned All-State rankings in baseball, football and track. Such feat paved his way to study at the Louisiana Tech in Ruston garnering a football scholarship. There he played for the Bulldogs as first-string quarterback, ahead of Terry Bradshaw who went on to play professionally in the National Football League (NFL).

Phil remained starter of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team in 1966 and 1967 but decided not to play the following season.

It was believed that he had potential to pursue football professionally. He was also approached by Paul Harvey to professionally play for ‘Washington Redskins’ that compete in NFL, however Phil quit the game as it interfered with his hunting endeavours.

He graduated from Louisiana Tech with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education and then started working as schoolteacher earning repute from his students.

He taught in school for years and meanwhile attended night classes to obtain a Masters of Arts degree in Education. However his passion for hunting led him to quit teaching as well and he resolved to pursue a career that would allow him to utilise his talent in hunting.

He became a commercial fisherman. He was not happy with quality of duck call available in market. He thus resolved to develop his own.

He tried creating a call that would resemble the exact call of a duck and in 1972 he invented his first Duck Commander call. He obtained its patent in 1973, the same year he incorporated the Duck Commander company. He began his business in a dilapidated boat, where he spent the next 2 ½ decades in creating duck calls using Louisiana cedar trees.

Meanwhile in 1975, he was running a bar. He went through a low phase in his life in the 1970s that included becoming an alcoholic. By that time a married man, his relation with his wife strained leading to a period of separation. He would often throw his wife and children out of home. He fell on the other side of law as well and took shelter in the woods for days to escape from clutch of authorities.

During such testing time, he happened to meet a devout Christian, whom he ignored initially. However later unable to bear problems that shadowed his life, Phil had an in-depth discussion with the person on his life and on Christ and His forgiveness. According to Phil, he went through a subsequent religious awakening that helped him to tide over his problems including reconciling with his wife.

The family home of Phil in West Monroe, Louisiana became factory of Duck Commander from where assembling, packaging and shipping of duck calls were done. Initially Phil strived in selling the product from store to store travelling different states. Meanwhile his wife and kids operated a fishing business netting and selling fish to help run the kitchen.