jeff varner was raised on a tobacco farm in greensboro, north carolina. an extensive genealogical search discovered that varner and edward r. murrow are related by marriage on murrow's mother's side of the tree. he played right defense for a team in the local youth hockey league, and earned his black belt in tae kwon do at the age of 15. he attended southern guilford high school, where he was active in student government and theatre arts and editor of the school's yearbook; he later went on to earn a journalism degree from the university of north carolina at chapel hill.