Marc Ratner was born July 25, 1944 in Phoenix, Arizona. His family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada when he was in the seventh grade in 1957. The Ratner family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom. Ratner is a graduate of Las Vegas High School and Nevada Southern (now UNLV.) Ratner worked for decades at officiating and regulating sports events, especially boxing, mixed martial arts, and football. He served as official in three collegiate bowl games: the 2003 Aloha Bowl, 2000 Independence Bowl and 2006 Cotton Bowl.

Hershel Brooks was born December 3, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in an orthodox Jewish household, along with his four siblings, and attended Jewish community schools before pursuing his rabbinical studies. He studied at TelsheYeshiva in Cleveland, Torah Vodaath in New York, and Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.