Up by the Bootstraps

The day Red was born, the trumpets sounded, the heavenly angels burst into song, and a voice from on high was heard saying, "LOOK OUT BELOW! Here comes Red, and you better be ready for him." From the hills of the Kiamichi Mountains in southeast Oklahoma, a boy picked himself up by the bootstraps, brushed off the Oklahoma dust, and showed the world he was someone to reckon with. The only thing he knew was hard work. Deprived in more ways than one, he learned early in life to keep his mouth shut.