The Generation Game : Lights, Camera, Acton: It Starts With Fullerton Family

Most football coaches agree that a quarterback must deal with more pressure than any player on a team. If this is true, then few quarterbacks experience the anxiety Aaron Acton does on Friday nights.

Acton isn’t merely playing quarterback for Fullerton High School, he’s carrying on a family tradition. And it’s a legacy that isn’t defined by just playing a sport; these bloodlines expect excellence.

Every time he steps onto the field, Acton marks the fourth generation of his family to play football at Fullerton. But playing is a loose description of what Acton’s relatives have accomplished.

His father, Jim Acton, graduated in 1960 and earned nine letters in three sports. His great uncle, Sam McGaughy, Class of 1953, earned 10 letters in four sports. And then there’s great, great uncle Mel McGaughy, Class of 1930, who won 12 letters in five sports. If that’s not enough, all of Aaron’s predecessors went on to minor league baseball careers after graduating.

Which all serves to inspire Aaron.

“It makes you want to play harder,” he said. “You don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

You can almost see the script, listening to family members recall their high school days. It’s a genuine love affair with the city--where everyone knew each other and married their high school sweethearts.

It was a different time when Acton’s father, uncle and great uncle went to school. Fullerton was one of only a handful of Orange County high schools, with an enrollment of 4,000. Most students were bused in from outlying places such as Yorba Linda and Placentia.

Finding opponents was a bigger problem than finding athletes. Fullerton would travel to San Diego one weekend, then Glendale or Long Beach the next.

Mel McGaughy, 73, remembers these times. He set the standard for all the McGaughys and Actons who would follow.

“We played in the old Fullerton Stadium. It was a dirt field and had a grandstand on one side,” Mel said. “After a game, everyone would go downtown to shop and buy a bag of popcorn. There wasn’t a whole lot to do.”

Mel distinguished himself as a football and baseball player, but he can recount other memories, as well. He remembers the big week when Fullerton met rival Anaheim. Students from both schools would converge on the vast orange groves off of Commonwealth Avenue and throw hard, green oranges at each other, in spite of knowing anyone caught in the vast groves would be expelled from school.

Then there was the freshman music class, where Mel said he sat near a gangly, bookworm named Dick, who “wasn’t much of an athlete.”

“In 1952, one of my friends came up to me and said, ‘Hey, did you hear about Dick Nixon, he’s going to be vice president,’ ” McGaughy said.

A running back, Mel was offered a football scholarship to USC, but didn’t have good enough grades to get into college. Instead, he opted for professional baseball. He played in the West Dixie League in the mid-1930s, making $75 a month.

Twenty years later, Mel’s nephew, Sam McGaughy attended Fullerton. Sam thought he had some big shoes to fill, unaware of what later generations might face. “Uncle Mel was my hero when I was growing up,” Sam said.

Like his uncle, Sam concentrated on football and baseball, but his high school memories sharply differ from his uncle’s. As a sophomore, Sam was going to be the starting varsity quarterback until his father demanded he quit the team, fearing an injury would ruin any chance of a pro baseball career.

The incident changed the rest of Sam’s memories of Fullerton. “Dick Spaulding (Fullerton football coach) came and found me,” Sam said. “The coaches ostracized me and wouldn’t invite me to any parties, even when I was on the varsity baseball team.”

Sam recalls some of the bigger athletes pouring white shoe polish on his hair after quitting the team. “It wasn’t a pleasant time for me, but in those days you did whatever your dad said.”

Still, Sam did play basketball and baseball at Fullerton and, like Uncle Mel, spent several years playing in the minor leagues. Of course, by the time Sam signed his first baseball contract, salaries had skyrocketed to $170 a month.

Family members say that Sam may have been the best football player in the family, though he never had a chance to prove it.

Although he didn’t get to play, Sam tells of the Friday nights Fullerton played its games, when everyone would go to the now torn-down Hillside drive-in restaurant on Brea Boulevard to listen to the delayed radio broadcasts of the games.

“If we won, people would drive up and down the street honking their horns and lighting the palm trees on fire,” Sam said.

Four years after Sam graduated, his nephew, Jim Acton, attended Fullerton. By this time, the wheels had already been set in motion for the family’s athletic prowess. Jim knew what his uncle and great uncle had done and immediately joined the football team, even though he weighed only 114 pounds his sophomore year. Too small to play a regular position initially, Jim was a punter for a year.

“Anaheim was still our rival, but I remember playing La Habra,” Jim said. “It (La Habra) wasn’t a city yet and we were playing against country people. The games were more like being in a brawl.”

Jim decided his size was better suited for baseball and did well enough at Fullerton to be signed by the Dodgers after high school. He played seven years in the Dodger organization before retiring and moving back to Fullerton.

Aaron remains in awe of the stories his relatives tell, and though he may not have anything as dramatic to share with his children, it’s a bit of a victory for him to be playing football at all.

Last year, Aaron dislocated his kneecap for the third time in three years and wondered if he would ever play football again.

In December, he underwent surgery to completely reconstruct the knee and was told to forget about playing until mid-October at the earliest.

“I didn’t think I would be able to play again, but after the first day of rehabilitation, I felt an improvement,” Aaron said.

His recovery was so rapid that he participated in some of Fullerton’s summer workouts, and was ready for the Indians’ home opener Sept. 11 against Anaheim. He still wears a brace on his left knee, but no one is complaining, as Aaron has led the Indians to a 7-2 record. He has completed 63 of 117 passes for 1,108 yards and 10 touchdowns, and had 6 passes intercepted.

Aaron seems to prefer football, but also is aware of the family tradition of pursuing baseball careers.

“I like both sports, but I want to go to college and if I can get a football scholarship, I’ll concentrate on football,” Aaron said.

Not one to buck tradition, Aaron says he would like his children to attend Fullerton as well, but knows the days are gone when great, great Uncle Mel, great Uncle Sam or father Jim played in front of 8,000 fans in Fullerton Stadium.

“I would really like to go back and see how it was,” Aaron said.