Wallace "Bama"/Jake Counselman:  

After MHS I attended the University of Alabama and was a "walk on" nose tackle under Coach Bear Bryant until my junior year when I injured my knee. Being a "brain child" in my youth, I dropped out of college and joined the Marine Corps as a private, intending to seek a commission and possible career. Times were very different then and instead of being commisioned right away I actually made E-5 in a little over 13 months, through attrition basically, and was commissioned in 1970. I left the Marine Corps in 1972 as a 1st Lt. and entered the construction industry climbing high steel and doing the difficult jobs no one else wanted. I moved to San Antonio, Texas and stayed there until 1990 building my construction company that did everything from building power plants and cement plants to restoration of 18th Century architecture in the King William District of San Antonio. Helping a friend in August of 1990, a piece of equipment malfunctioned crushing me into an overhead tank, cracking my skull, breaking my back in 5 places, separating the pelvis 8 1/2 inches and breaking the sacruum into 6 pieces. I didn't walk for 4 years and eventually sold my company and equipment, rehabing for an addtional 3 years. God blesed me with the injury and my personality "mellowed out" a little, and I continue to Praise God for His influence and involvement in my life. I am also blessed with cordial ex-wives and a host of step children who continue to, in their teenage years, remind me of the patience my parents had raising me! Ha! In 1999 I moved to Lafayette, LA to be with my sister Cyd whose husband was killed in a car crash and began a third career, Volvo sales. As I had owned 10 Volvos this seemed very sensible and...Expand for more