Jack H. McCall, Sr. was born on May 1, 1922 and grew up in Franklin, Tennessee. After graduating from high school in 1941, he had planned to attend the University of Tennessee. He changed his mind after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps instead. McCall was assigned to the 9th Defense Battalion, where he was quickly nicknamed Pogiebait due to his lifelong love of candy (known as pogey bait in the Marine Corps). The unit deployed to Cuba in February of 1942 and moved to Guadalcanal in September. They remained there until June of 1943, when they were assigned to the Rendova/New Georgia campaign (operation TOENAILS). They were given light duty in the Russell Islands from January to mid-summer 1944, and then assigned to the invasion and occupation of Guam (operation FORAGER) in June of 1944. McCall, Sr. was rotated home in December of 1944, and then assigned to work with rocket artillery in Norfolk, Virginia. His impending deployment to Japan was halted by V. J. day, and he was discharged at Oceanside, California, on October 2, 1945.

Jack H. McCall, Jr. received a B.A. in political science from Vanderbilt University and graduated with a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1981. He served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Gilbert S. Merritt, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He is also a former army officer. He died on May 31, 1997.