He grew up idolizing Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson. As a teenager, he was hitching rides to sit in with the musicians at the Black Elks lodge.
During WWII, he joined the Army Air Corps, and became a bombardier. In 1944, his B-17 was shot down over Germany, and he was a POW until the camp was liberated in April 1945.
After the war, he wanted to attend music school, but did not have the basic classical training required. Instead, he attend Indiana University and majored in speech. While in college, he learned to play bebop.