According to what I have been able to determine, he was born closest to the small town of Marl, Geneva County, AL.

He held part-time to full-time jobs while going to school. He sold newspapers initially then worked in the Sports Dept. of the Montgomery Advertiser as a writer when he was older. He graduated from Sidney Lanier H.S. He worked at one point as a partner with his Brother-in-law Curtis Jones at a Shell Service Station on Madison Ave. in Montgomery. He later was hired by the U.S. Post Office as a postal clerk. He did that for a number of years and finally retired from the USPS as Forman of the Mail in 1972.510