American expert hunter Phil Alexander Robertson created his own duck call and established the Duck Commander business. He also had a starring role in the well-known American reality television program “Duck Dynasty,” which followed the lives of his family, and in the hunting program “Buck Commander.” Phil, who was one of seven children raised in a low-income family, started out hunting with family members. He won All-State honors in football, track, and baseball, which earned him a football scholarship to Louisiana Tech University. He was the starting quarterback there but gave up football to pursue his passion for duck hunting, which had by this point become his life’s work. After graduating from Louisiana Tech with a bachelor’s degree, he began working as a teacher. He earned his master’s degree in the interim. He went through a difficult time in his life, which included turning to drinking while running a pub. Phil claims that he came to know Christ at such a low point in his life. His third son, Willie Robertson, who is currently the company’s CEO, developed his own duck call and created the Duck Commander Company, which was later extended into a multimillion-dollar business.
Early Childhood & Life
He was the fifth child out of seven born to Merritt (née Hale) and James Robertson on April 24, 1946, in Vivian, Louisiana, in the United States.
He grew up witnessing his family struggling to make ends meet. They didn’t have running water, electricity, or a bathroom in their modest log home. The family cultivated fruit and vegetables in their garden, ate their own fowl, pigs, and cattle, and hunted deer, fish, and squirrels among other animals to survive. Thus, from a young age, hunting became an essential part of Phil’s life.
Even though his youth was marked by many difficulties, Phil later noted in his biography “Pleasant, Happy, Happy” that despite these difficulties, his family always maintained a happy disposition and that, despite the 1950s, their manner of life was more akin to that of the 1850s.
Football, student life, and early career
Phil continued to be an excellent athlete in high school, earning All-State honors in baseball, football, and track. Such an accomplishment enabled him to receive a football scholarship and study at Louisiana Tech in Ruston. He replaced Terry Bradshaw, who later went on to play professionally in the National Football League, as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback there (NFL).
In 1966 and 1967, Phil was still the team’s starting quarterback for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, but he opted not to play the following year.
He was thought to have the ability to play football professionally. Paul Harvey also asked him to play professionally for the NFL team “Washington Redskins,” but Phil turned down the offer since it clashed with his hunting activities.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education from Louisiana Tech before beginning his career as a teacher and gaining the respect of his pupils.
He spent years working as a teacher in a school while also taking night classes to earn a Masters of Arts in Education. But he decided to leave teaching as well because he was so passionate about hunting, and he made the decision to look for a job that would let him use his hunting skills.
Duck Dynasty, Duck Commander, and Other Efforts
He began fishing for a living. He was dissatisfied with the quality of duck calls on the market. He decided to create his own as a result.
He experimented with making a call that would be exactly like a duck’s call, and in 1972 he created the first Duck Commander call. In 1973, the same year he founded the Duck Commander company, he got its patent. He started his company in a run-down boat, where he spent the following two and a half decades making duck calls out of Louisiana cedar trees.
He was managing a tavern in 1975, in the meantime. In the 1970s, he went through a difficult time in his life that included turning to alcohol. He was already married at that point, but his marriage was troubled, and there was a time when they were apart. He frequently expelled his wife and kids from the house. He too found himself on the wrong side of the law and sought refuge in the woods for several days to avoid capture by the law.
He met a devoted Christian during this trying period, whom he initially ignored. Phil had a lengthy conversation with the person about his life, about Christ, and about His forgiveness, but subsequently found himself unable to handle the issues that had cast a shadow over his life. He afterwards experienced a religious awakening, according to Phil, which enabled him to overcome his issues and make amends with his wife.
Phil’s West Monroe, Louisiana, home became the Duck Commander factory, where the duck calls were assembled, packaged, and shipped. Phil initially made an effort to promote the goods while traveling between stores in several locations. While this was going on, his wife and children ran a fishing operation, netting and selling fish to help support the household.
With time, Willie Robertson, Phil’s third son, who is currently the CEO of the company, grew Duck Commander into a multimillion dollar business. It produces duck calls and various duck hunting products, and it also creates deer hunting products under the Buck Commander brand name.
The Duck Commander business as well as Phil’s family became the focus of the American reality television series “Duck Dynasty,” which was broadcast on A&E. The Robertson family was featured in the series, which ran for 11 seasons and 130 episodes between March 21, 2012, and March 29, 2017, starting with the patriarch Phil, his wife Kay, brother Si, sons, and daughters-in-law, and ending with the grandkids.
On A&E and cable television, Duck Dynasty smashed numerous ratings records due to its enormous popularity. In December 2013, Phil was in the center of a controversy after remarks he made in an interview with Drew Magary for GQ magazine were perceived as anti-gay. On December 18 of that year, A&E fired him from the program permanently as a result of this. Nevertheless, after nine days, he was reinstated in response to public outcry to end the ban.
In 2013, he co-wrote the memoir “Happy, Happy, Happy” with novelist Mark Schlabach.
In the 2013 special election, he supported Vance McAllister politically by endorsing him in a TV ad. It was believed to have played a role in some way in McAllister’s success in the election and his election as the representative for Louisiana’s 5th congressional district. Additionally, Phil supported Ted Cruz for President in 2016, and after he withdrew from the race, he supported Donald Trump. Additionally, he supported Judge Roy Moore in the 2017 run-off election for the US Senate in Alabama.
Other activities of Phil’s include serving as chairman of the American Legacy Center’s “Fight for the Court” project and making an appearance in Steve Bannon’s movie “Torchbearer.”
Individual Life of Phil Robertson
In 1966, after dating Marsha “Kay” Carroway since 1964, Phil wed his high school love. Jase, Willie, Alan, and Jep are his four sons. With their long beards and strong Protestant Christian beliefs, Phil, his brother Si, and their kids Jase, Willie, and Jep are well-known.
Phil is a fervent Christian and an elder at the White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ in West Monroe. He is open about his faith and his belief in God. He disapproves of technology and is against abortion. He receives invitations to speak in various churches and organizations each year and is recognized as one of America’s leading Christian conservatives.