I was born in 1957. I grew up in Winterset Iowa. My father was a sports columnist for the Des Moines Register and my mother worked at a daycare center. I started to play baseball when I was 6. I played baseball during my time at the University of MN, Twin Cities and I majored in Health Sciences. I became a baseball coach at the high school I graduated from and coached for 50 years. I married my wife in 1984. I currently have 9 kids and 19 grandkids in my family.