Since my parents went through the Great Depression and only finished the 8th grade, there was never an incentive for me to go to college. I grew up a country boy with interests in Hot Rodding and playing fastpitch softball. I continued both during my service career. After High School, I assumed that I would get a job at the Kelly Springfield Tire Co, where my father was a bead room supervisor. The company would not hire me because I had not fulfilled my military draft obligation.