 While attending Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Lyons and a group of male friends befriended Janis Joplin, who was otherwise an outcast in school.As documented in all biographies of Janis Joplin, he was the person who played Janis her first Lead Belly record, which is considered a formative influence on her style of singing.He attended Tulane University on a football scholarship, and he has a master's degree in Library Science as well as in History.