Josif, son of Mekan Fekali, 5-card stud prodigy at the age of four, dropped out of the Municipal High School of Tirana (Albania) at the age of five, persuing his lifelong dream, a career of a sheep herder. Herded sheep as a freelancer until he immigrated from Albania to Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1960, where he retired twenty years later, serving in position of Special Slovene Herding Advisor.