Roy J. Cootes was born on December 3, 1932, at the old San Pedro Hospital in California. He spent his childhood in San Pedro, where his father worked as a shop superintendent for the Atlas-Imperial Diesel Engine Company, and his mother was a homemaker. Cootes attended local schools, graduating from San Pedro High School in 1950, and later obtained a certificate in internal combustion engine technology from Los Angeles Harbor College. In 1953, he pursued a brief career in professional baseball, signing with the San Francisco Seals.

Steven Cole was born in 1942in San Pedro, California. His m other, originally from Oakland, moved to San Pedro as a young child, while his father, a machinist from Amherst, Nova Scotia, arrived in San Pedro around 1918 or 1919. Cole's father worked at the Los Angeles Shipyard, which later became Todd Shipyard, before transitioning to the electrical business. Steven Cole grew up in San Pedro, assisting his father with the family electrical business, Cole's Battery, established in 1923.

Tony DiBernardo was born in 1928 on the island of Ischia, located off the coast of Naples, Italy. Tony's father, born in 1888, was a fisherman who supported his family by fishing off the coast of Africa. In November 1938, Tony, along with his mother and two older sisters, joined his father in San Pedro, California. Settling in San Pedro, Tony began his education at Cabrillo Avenue School, where he learned English in a class designed for new immigrants. Tony worked shining shoes at a local barbershop and later in a shoe repair shop and a produce market.