I remember I was at KU and on the draft night I wanted to go to the KU basketball game–I did not miss a game. When I came back afterwards, I was told my number was 20, which was a real jolt for me because I knew with that number, I would be drafted. And it seemed like everyone else had a high number and were out of the woods.

It turned out that I was able to get into the Illinois National Guard after graduation, which enabled me to eventually go on to graduate school and get a MBA. I was not opposed to serving my country, although I was no fan of the Vietnam war and did not want to go. It tore the country apart and took us many years to recover. But, I consider myself lucky to have avoided going.