Billy Bolton had always thought of becoming a doctor, but he wasn’t sure he could make the grades necessary to get into medical school.

It wasn’t until he enrolled in Dr. Carl Knight’s biology class at Eastfield College and did make good grades that he began to really visualize a medical career. And thanks in great part to Dr. Knight’s encouragement and support, he’s known today as “Dr. Billy” to his patients at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he’s a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Truth be told, Dr. Knight had tried to convince Dr. Billy’s father, David — whom he found to be an extraordinarily bright biology student — to go to medical school after attending Eastfield College. But David was making too much money in the plumbing business.

Twenty or so years later, Billy took Dr. Knight’s biology class and received the same challenge his father had — but he took it. After earning an associate degree at Eastfield in 1993 and then transferring to SMU with a half-tuition scholarship, he graduated from medical school at Texas Tech University.

“Going to community college first was great for me,” says Dr. Billy. “I think if I’d started at a major university, I wouldn’t have been dedicated enough to pay attention to class and make the grades to even get into medical school. Starting at Eastfield gave me the opportunity to learn how to dedicate my efforts to my studies.

“Somewhere between my parents, my instructors at Eastfield and my peers, I learned how to do well in school — to really apply myself and get good grades. Eastfield taught me how to be a good student.”

Coming from a guy with more than a dozen years of higher education, that’s no small compliment.

For Dr. Billy Bolton, it all began here.

Dr. Bolton is in the process of relocating his family and his practice to Greenville, S.C., where he is joining the staff at University Surgical Associates, part of the Greenville University Hospital System.