Street Fighter EX/C. Jack

Before the Street Fighter EX tournaments occurred, Cracker Jack had a shady past and kept to himself most of the time. He hired himself out to anyone looking for a bouncer or bodyguard. One day, a rich woman named Blair Dame asked to hire his services as a bodyguard for a street fighting tournament that she wished to enter. Cracker Jack didn't care as much about her reasons for hiring him as he did about the sum of money that she was willing to pay, so he accepted.

Blair seemed to do rather well in the tournament, but she was sensitive to the teasing and jests at her expense. She asked Cracker Jack to defend her, but since no one was physically attacking her, there was little that he cared to do about it. Fed up with the treatment that she was receiving, she quit the tournament shortly before she was scheduled to face the tournament's sponsor, M. Bison. She announced that she was quitting, to which Bison replied that no one could quit. When she refused to fight, Bison attacked her and Cracker Jack stepped in.

Cracker Jack took several hits from Bison, but he stood his ground, and Bison was overall impressed with him. Cracker Jack reminded Bison very much of Balrog, with a similar combat style mixed with athleticism and no qualms about gaining the upper hand through the use of objects like baseball bats. Bison offered Cracker Jack an alluring position in his Shadowloo organization. Not knowing anything about it, and having nothing else to do since Blair was returning home, he accepted.

When the second EX tournament commenced, Bison sent Cracker Jack and Vega out ahead of him to investigate the man who dared usurp his tournament. This time, Cracker Jack showed up in much nicer clothing, having received a high salary as a trainer for troops that are new to Shadowloo. Although Bison kept Cracker Jack out of the loop, Jack knew what was going on, and began to detest the organization and was looking for a way out of it. He met an intriguing new fighter from Italy named Vulcano Rosso, and they became good friends. When it was announced that fighters could select partners in the third tournament, Cracker Jack invited Vulcano to be his partner and Vulcano accepted. Jack's plan was to beat Bison and win the tournament as well as his freedom from Shadowloo.