Earl Clifton Beck was born on April 7, 1891 in Hickman, Nebraska, the son of Cornelius Porter and Louisa (Theade) Beck. He attended the Peru Teachers College in Peru, Nebraska, the University of Nebraska, where he earned a B.A. and M.A., Harvard University, where he earned a second M.A., and the George Peabody College, where he earned his Ph.D. Beck worked as a teacher and administrator in Nebraska public schools, a college training school in Dillon, Montana, Stillman College, Alabama, and as the head of the English Department at Central Michigan University (CMU).
