He enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in fall 1941 with $50, intending to study journalism. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Maloney left college to join the Marine Corps. He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations and was wounded in action on Guam and Iwo Jima, receiving a Purple Heart. Following an honorable discharge, Maloney returned to the University of Texas in 1945, and received a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1948.