Steve Casey is the oldest of three children born to Peggy and Walt Casey. Born in Portland, Oregon, Steve arrived in Las Vegas in 1951 as a three-year-old via Glendora, California. His childhood memories are of small-town Las Vegas. He grew up near Tropicana Avenue and Eastern Avenue in a house his parents built by hand. The Casey family lived beyond municipal roads, so Steve worked his newspaper route by horse and occasionally rode his horse to Paradise Elementary School.

Billy Paul Smith was born in 1942 and educated in segregated black schools in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Texarkana, Texas. He graduated from high school at fifteen and enrolled at Prairie View A&M University, where he trained with the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). He earned his Bachelor’s degree in chemistry and in 1964, his Master’s degrees in chemistry and math. Smith’s math and science background steered him to the United States Army Chemical Corps, where he was quickly selected to join a new team.