He earned a master's degree at the University of New Mexico, where he later taught journalism and became chairman of the journalism department.
He enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, but left in 1943 to join the Army. He went ashore with the 103rd Infantry Division on D-Day, and was severely wounded in Alsace. He received a Silver Star with Oak-Leaf Cluster. After the war, he returned to college to complete his degree.
A publisher who turned his manuscript down actually said to him, "Your
stories would be a lot more interesting if you'd take out all this
American Indian stuff."
He worked as a farmer, truck driver, oil-field roughneck, and reporter and editor for newspapers in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, as well as United Press International in Oklahoma City.
His parents were farmers, and also ran a small store where young Tony listened, spellbound, to the stories told by local residents.