[1] William Ivy Hair was born on November 19, 1930, in Monroe, Louisiana.
He attended Louisiana State University (LSU), where he was manager of the school's newspaper The Daily Reveille.
After earning a BA and MA, Hair joined the United States Army in 1954.
In 1957, the couple moved to Florida State University (FSU), where he was a visiting professor from 1957 to 1963.
He also became the chair of the History Department and published his first book, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics: 1877-1900.