He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1930, and was a coach and teacher of physical education in Tucson High School in 1931 and 1932.

Entering military service with the Seventh Cavalry Regiment as a first lieutenant in August 1940, he was transferred to the Air Corps in 1941 and spent thirty-one months on foreign service in Africa and Italy.

He was discharged as a major on November 21, 1945, and retired July 1, 1960, as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1954 and was defeated for the Democratic nomination in 1961 to fill a vacancy in the 87th United States Congress.

He resumed his career in the insurance field, and in 1965, was appointed to head a Federal Job Corps Center in Oregon.