John Sanders Counselman, son of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth Sanders Brown, was born in Cripple Creek (Wythe County), Virginia, on February 18, 1880. He obtained a bachelor's degree in science (1903) and master's degree in civil engineering (1904) from the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (today Virginia Tech). Counselman played fullback on the university's football team for the 1901-1903 seasons and was named Second Team All-Southern in 1901. Upon obtaining his master's degree, Counselman became assistant professor of mathematics and civil engineering and assistant football coach at the Georgia School of Technology (today Georgia Tech). In 1905, Counselman was hired as physical director at Cumberland University (Lebanon, Tennessee), where he also served as a football coach. The following year, Counselman became head coach at Howard College (now Samford University) in Birmingham, Alabama. Also in 1906, he was named head of the mathematics department at Birmingham High School, a position he would hold until 1920. During these years, Counselman took additional engineering courses at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. In 1920, Counselman became professor of mathematics at the College of William and Mary. Counselman married Nettie McCrory (1889-1972); the couple had one child, author Mary Elizabeth Counselman. The Counselmans seem to have separated by 1940; the federal census for that year finds John Counselman lodging in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and working as a road and bridge inspector; Nettie Counselman, meanwhile, is listed as a teacher, living in Gadsden (Etowah County), Alabama, with their daughter. (The 1950 census shows Nettie living with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson in Gadsden.) John Counselman would later serve as superintendent of schools in Tallahassee, Florida, before returning to Alabama and teaching school in Gadsden, where he retired. John S. Counselman died in Gadsden on March 29, 1955, and was buried in Crestwood Memorial Cemetery, East Gadsen.