O.T. Sander was born Oliver Thomas Sander. The O.T. came later and if you were to think that O.T. stands for Oliver Thomas, you’d be wrong.Oliver Thomas was due to be born on September 21, but his mammaand papa knew babies rarely come exactly on the day they arepredicted to come. So, on September 21, they weren’t ready, but Oliver Thomas came as scheduled. Papa hurried up and got the nurseryready, and when Oliver Thomas came home from the hospital right ontime, his room was ready.Mama and Papa Sander were attentive parents. They knew new babiesneeded to be fed on a schedule. They agreed to take turns for the 2:00 am feeding. The firstnight, they were both so tired, they would’ve slept right through it, but Oliver Thomas wokethem up screaming at precisely 2:00 am that night and every night for the next few weeks.And so it went that Oliver Thomas grew to be a big, healthy boy. He ate breakfast at 8:00,lunch at noon, and dinner at 6:00. He brushed his teeth (after he got some) at 7:30, took abath at 7:40, listened to Mama or Papa read a story, then fell asleep at 8:15.The night before he started kindergarten, Mama told him it was important to be on time.Oliver Thomas walked into class at exactly 9:00 am and, at 11:29 he got ready to gohome—every single day. If the teacher said he could use the paint table for 15 minutes,that’s what Oliver Thomas did.Throughout first grade, the other kids would keep looking on the back wall at the clock (theones who could tell time and even the ones who couldn’t) to see what time it was (and howlong until lunch or recess). Oliver Thomas never looked at the clock. He just knew. By theend of first grade, or maybe even sooner, some people started calling him O.T. It stuck