Will Sands was born on February 14, 1963, to Will Sands, Sr. and Marian Holmes Sands. He had an average childhood but frequently lacked necessities. Marion Sands was an excellent seamstress and provided the primary financial support for her family. Will Sr. was good-humored and likable but spent more time playing poker and drinking than working.
Young Will was a ‘C’ student, but he didn’t care. He would rather pick up a ball and get a game going than read a book. In school, he played baseball and football, and his natural athletic abilities served him well. Will loved sports, but he lacked ambition and drive.
After graduating from high school, he didn’t go to college or train for a vocational career. One day, Will happened to meet up with a former coach from high school who had always liked Will. The coach asked Will if he was available to help younger kids learn how to play baseball and football. Will accepted the job, and it proved beneficial for both him and the kids. He worked with the kids for three years before moving on.
In the mid-1980s, Will found the woman of his dreams, Candace Woods, who was blonde, beautiful and sweet, but not strong emotionally. Still, Will had his heart set on marrying her, and on June 28, 1986, Candace Woods became Candace Sands. At first, the couple seemed happy, but within a year, the marriage was troubled. Soon after their first anniversary, Candace filed for divorce. Will seemed brokenhearted about the breakup, and people noticed that he never sought out the company of any other woman afterward.
After his marriage ended, Will went to bartender's school in Tupelo and then began work at The Roadhouse in Oxford. Bartending was the perfect job for Will. He knew how to tell a good joke and didn’t mind listening to people's problems. They'd always leave feeling better after a couple of shots and Will's reassurance that everything would work out just fine.
Over the years, business thrived under Will's bartending skills, and The Roadhouse hired two more bartenders to help him out. He clearly enjoys his job and is terrific at it. Oxonians all seem to love the town's most popular bartender.
Will is probably the only person in town who knows everything that really happens in Oxford, and he keeps the secrets his customers confide in him. But he's always willing to tell YCSD detectives about what he himself has seen or heard, providing they keep quiet about their source.
Oxonians may be in for a loss, however, because Will received a call from Sal Castleberry, a buddy from bartender’s school, that a downtown Tupelo restaurant space was coming available in March 2021. Sal asked Will if he wanted to become a co-owner and establish a second Roadhouse. While initially reluctant because of his love for Oxford, Will gave Sal the go-ahead, and the two plan to be as successful in Tupelo as in Oxford.
