In 1940, he was a member of the State Junior College Championship Team at Schreiner Institute.
He entered the University of Texas at Austin in 1941 and graduated in 1948, with service in the United States Army Air Forces from 1943 to 1946.
This was after a highly publicized scandal in which he faced a felony charge of "compelling prostitution with a minor."
He was accused of inducing a 16-year-old girl into prostitution with several prominent men named as clients.
He was convicted of the lesser misdemeanor offense of engaging in prostitution and fined two hundred dollars.