A three year mainstay on the Georgetown baseball team, Jack Vail joined the basketball team in his junior year, but excelled during senior season on the team.

A backup to Hugh Beins as a junior, Vail was elevated to the starting lineup in 1953-54. He had 15 games in double figure scoring, and ended the season averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds a game. Vail's biggest game was a 61-59 upset of Temple that cost the owls and NIT bid; Vail was responsible for the tip-in to win the game at McDonough Gymnasium.

Vail served with the U.S. Marines from 1954 to 1957 and was stationed in Hawaii. Following a return to Georgetown for a law degree, he returned to Hawaii and lived the remainder of his life there, first as a prosecutor and later a district judge from 1982 to 2001.

"The voice may be loud and harsh. His judgment was the other way around," recalled former circuit judge Circuit Judge Artemio Baxa in a 2016 account. "Judge Vail was a man of physical size, but his heart was much bigger. He understood human nature and he gave justice to the small guy."