Armand Ball, a native of Louisiana, spent most of his adult life in organized camping as director of faith-based and YMCA camps in Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Minnesota, and then acted as chief executive of the American Camp Association for 13 years.

Beverly Ball, a native of Mississippi, served in various positions in faith-based and YMCA camps in Tennessee and Minnesota, as well as acted as a trainer for Girl Scouts of the USA at the local and national levels. Her professional career included work as a high school teacher, church youth director, director of college faith-related student activities, and publications director for the American Camp Association.

Together, Armand and Beverly wrote nine editions of Basic Camp Management, a book that has been translated into multiple languages and has served as a textbook for university and international camp courses for several decades. In 1988, Armand cofounded the International Camp Fellowship, now composed of camp leaders from over 200 countries. As recognized experts in the field, Armand and his wife Beverly taught courses for camp directors in countries around the world.