When Thomas was still a pre-teen, his family (his father, Rex, had remarried again) moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked at such jobs as a paperboy, golf caddy, and at a soda fountain counter in a drugstore. At 15, Thomas got his first job at a restaurant, and when his family decided to leave Fort Wayne to move again, he refused to leave, dropping out of school in the 10th grade and going to work full time.
