John Hamber played football for San Jose State University. He then joined the US Marine Corps and played football for the Marine Corps team at Quantico, Virginia, and was named to the All-Marine All-Stars. Hamber helped with the formation of Force Recon (FORECON – the Marines Special Forces) and graduated #1 in his Army Ranger School, and later graduated #1 in a Navy underwater dive class that would evolve into the Navy Special Forces, the SEALs. Hamber was honorably discharged from the Marines in 1960. An avid sailor, he owned and operated John Hamber’s Watersports in the Virgin Islands in the 1960’s and 1970’s.