John grew up in Webster Groves and  was a rock 'n' roll disc jockey from 1969-72. 

He was in law enforcement for 30 years as  a police officer, detective, arson investigator and assistant police chief in subruban St. Louis, Kansas City and Washington, DC.

He was a national and regional freelance magazine writer, covered Congress and the Justice Department as a Washington correspondent, worked the sports desk at the Kansas City Star and was a sportswriter and sports columnist on the East coast.

He moved back to St. Louis in 2006, where he worked as an editor for Traffic.com, as a college basketball and baseball official scorer and PA announcer. He recently served a two year term as an alderman in Town and Country.