Mal grew up in a house adjoining a country store opened by his father, who passed at an early age. With five kids to feed and just a sixth-grade education, his mother quit her job and went on to run the store for more than 30 years. Mal enjoyed summers with his friends jumping into the creek in cutoff jeans and playing with homemade toys called “play pretties.” The slingshot, however, was favored among the boys who ran through the woods hunting small game like their ancestors once did.