Dr. Joseph Fry was born West Virginia on May 21, 1947. He was the only child of an insurance salesman and a public school teacher. His parents met in Ronceverte, West Virginia, and lived for a while in his grandmother's boarding house. He had an idyllic childhood in this small town of 2500 people. After graduation, he was interested in playing college basketball and ended up at Davis and Elkins College in east central West Virginia.