But the one he's most proud of is storyteller.

Sappington, a clinical psychologist and professor at Webster University, has published "Hidden History of St. Augustine," a collection of stories that tell the city's lesser-known past.

And while the book is packed with educational details, Sappington said it is predominately about the art of storytelling.

"History, after all, is all about stories," he said.

About 10 years ago, Sappington's wife, Sharon, joined the Tale Tellers of St. Augustine, a collective of about 20 storytelling enthusiasts. The group gathered monthly to tell each other stories and plan storytelling events at festivals around the state.

"At first I was just being a chauffeur," he said. "I was already driving to the meetings and sitting in the back, so I thought ‘I might as well join in.'?"

When he noticed that St. Augustine's 450th anniversary was due to be celebrated in 2015, he decided to put the stories he told as a hobby into a book.

"The city has a long, rich history, he said. "The settlement of St. Augustine is closer to the middle ages than the American Revolution."

Sappington has published academic books on psychology before, but this is his first "fun" book, he said.

Sappington traded formal, scholarly language for a casual, humor-filled style of writing.

"They say that humor is tragedy at a distance," he said. "Well history is tragedy at a distance, too. It seemed to me that humor and history were a natural pair."

He said he hopes the book serves as a "gateway" for people who are not normally inclined to study history.

While the book is mostly about St. Augustine's history, five stories relate to Gainesville, Sappington said. History doesn't operate in a vacuum, he said, so it's only natural that other Florida cities influenced St. Augustine's history.

For example, one story reveals how Gainesville got its name. Another focuses on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, a Gainesville resident and namesake of a University of Florida dorm.

Sappington's book is available on Amazon.com. Read selections from the book for free on his website, drewsappington.wordpress.com.