On his father's side, Hefner claims he is a direct descendant of Plymouth governor William Bradford. He has described his family as "conservative, Midwest, Methodist." He went to Sayre Elementary School and Steinmetz High School, then served as a writer for a military newspaper in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. He later graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a B.A. in psychology with a double minor in creative writing and art in 1949, earning his degree in two and a half years. After graduation, he took a semester of graduate courses in sociology at Northwestern University but dropped out soon after.
For many college students, grads, and young professionals, a career path can be a cloudy one – a mixture of doubt and confusion, purpose and experimentation. For Mr. Hefner, it was a journey many others could sympathize with but no one has duplicated. He served as a writer for a military newspaper in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. In 1949, he graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.A. in psychology and a double minor in creative writing and art, a degree that only took him two and a half years to obtain. After graduation, he took a semester of graduate courses in sociology at Northwestern University but dropped out soon after.
From there, he worked as a copywriter for Esquire but left in January 1952 after being denied a $5 raise. In 1953, he mortgaged his furniture and raised $8,000 from 45 investors— including $1,000 from his mom to launch Playboy. The rest is history. We’ve collected almost 40 photos of Hef during these formative years. Prepare to stare into the face of determination by checking out Playboy.com’s video on Hef’s early years and our photo gallery of rarely seen pics.
