...Aubrey Arlen house was born in his rural Indiana home in 1932, the third child of Clyde and Hazel House.

A cute little blond fella with a pronounced cowlick, he went by the nickname of "Buddy."

Since his father Clyde was a tenant farmer, Buddy and his family lived a few different places as he was growing up, but always staying in east central Indiana.

I love this school picture of my dad.  I'm guessing he was about 6 or 7 years old.  Look at that ornery sparkle in those blue eyes!

The story goes that Buddy's first day of school, the teacher read the roll call for attendance on which he was listed as "Aubrey House."  He didn't respond and when the teacher finished the roll call without reading "Buddy House," Dad got up ready to leave the room thinking his name wasn't on the list.  He didn't realize his real name was Aubrey.

That afternoon at the end of the school day, Buddy completely cleaned out his desk and packed all his books and supplies and took them home, declaring he hated school and he wasn't going back.

The eyes are the windows to the soul...in this case, an energetic ornery soul!

Before he was Daddy, he was a young boy growing up in the WWII era...

...just a farm boy in Indiana, whose family struggled to survive hard times the only way they knew how, by faith in God, hard work, and sticking together.

Before he was Daddy, he was this handsome 16-year-old with his as-yet-unknown future shining bright ahead of him.

Just barely 17 when he graduated from Brownsville High School in 1949, Dad started working third shift at the local Perfect Circle factory.  He also worked a second job at a nearby dairy company, driving a morning route picking up milk from farmers and delivering it to the dairy for processing.

Before he was Daddy, he was a champion boxer.  In the fall of 1949, Bud discovered a talent and passion for boxing.  He began training with a boxing coach from Richmond and soon began winning Golden Glove tournaments and AAU crowns as a heavyweight.

Like everything else he did, Buddy put 110% into his boxing career and his hard training paid off with much success in the ring.

When Dad enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, he became part of the Camp LeJeune boxing team where he continued his winning ways.

In this 1953 photo of a Marine Corps bout, Dad delivers one of his powerful left-handed punches on an unfortunate opponent.

He won his way up through the ranks to become the Marine Corps heavyweight champion.

1954.

Before he was Daddy, he was a dejected young boxer sitting on a rock wall outside a Washington, DC arena where he'd just lost a tough exhibition match.  President Dwight Eisenhower, who had been in the audience, sat down beside him and talked about life with my dad.

I doubt that opportunity would have come had he won the bout.  It was the best loss (of the few he had) that Dad ever suffered.

Famed boxer Jack Dempsey gave Dad a few pointers.  Boxing promoters tried to talk Buddy into turning professional after he got out of the Marines, but his future was taking a better turn...

...he'd met the love of his life.

Mama's family lived near Camp LeJeune in North Carolina and he met Mama one day while she was working as a waitress at a diner near the base.  One thing led to another...

...and in January 1955 they married.

Dad traded in a promising boxing career for Mama and us.

This is one of the last photos of Bud "before he was Daddy."  Just a couple of months after this photo was taken in 1957, I was born when he was 25 years old.

Now he was Daddy.

Here we are 55 years later.  What a great life they've built together!  Mama and Dad just celebrated their 57th anniversary, they are parents of 4 children, grandparents of 11...

...and great-grandparents to 5.

I've only known him as Daddy.

But there was a time, starting 82 years ago today...

...before he was Daddy.