NEWTON — Memories are always made on football fields.
The good and the bad.
What also comes with the sport, though, is a brotherhood — a family away from your actual family.
That’s not the case for Newton head football coach Jason Fulton.
Nothing beats Friday nights at Chizevsky Field for his family because they’re literally on the field with him.
Fulton, who is in his 19th season as the head coach, has coached all three of his sons while roaming the sidelines for the Eagles.
He coached his biological son, Gabe, for three years. Jason’s first adopted son, Dexter, is a senior this year, while his youngest, Quincy, is a sophomore.
“It’s a special thing to coach your son and I get the opportunity to coach two at the same time. That’s amazing for me,” Jason said. “I was also able to coach my son, Gabe, when he came through here; that was a great time in my life.
“At the time, Quincy and Dexter were pretty young and you thought you had all the time in the world for them to come through, but all of a sudden, here we are.”
If there’s one thing that Jason wants Dexter and Quincy, as well as the other sets of brothers on the Newton team, to remember, it’s one thing: never take the moment for granted.
Jason didn’t when he got the opportunity to play with his late brother, Grant, when he was in the same shoes that both of his sons are in now.
“I’ve told my team, and my boys, ‘One of the greatest thrills in my life was when I was a sophomore in high school, I got to play varsity football with my brother, Grant, who was a senior that year,’” Jason said. “I hope that these guys, down the road, will be like, ‘That was pretty cool, I got to play with my brother.’”
Grant passed away 23 years ago, but those memories are forever etched in Jason’s mind.
Quincy and Dexter are hoping to make more memories this year.
Last year, both played a significant role on the team. Those roles should be expanded this year.
“His freshman year, he got hurt in the summer and had to have elbow surgery,” said Jason of Dexter. “He lost his whole freshman year, came back his sophomore year and had a pretty good year, but it felt like he was still trying to catch up.
“Last year, he put it all together; you could see that maturity and how hard he worked.”
Dexter caught 33 passes for 523 yards and four touchdowns. He had 15 tackles and two interceptions on defense.
Jason said there are those father-son moments between them at times.
“There are times we butt heads: father and son, coach and player,” Jason said. “He has that fiery attitude about him.”
Dexter can’t think of a better role model to look up to than his father.
To play one more football season for him is the icing on top of the cake.
“It means the world to play for him. My dad is one of the hardest-working people I know,” Dexter said. “I would say that a majority of what I’ve learned is due to him. He cares for his players’ health and how they perform. I can’t think of a better example for me, my brother and the whole team than my dad.
“He has taught me to work hard, never give up and do the right thing even when no one is watching.”
For Quincy, it’s different.
Though he “likes” football, it’s not his “love.”
That’s baseball.
Quincy spends most of his time in the offseason traveling to baseball tournaments around the United States.
Jason said he was ranked by one recruiting outlet as the best player, in his class, in the state.
What a lot of college programs enjoy seeing, though, are athletes who participate in multiple sports.
And that is what Quincy does with football.
“He’s really embraced football more this year,” Jason said. “I know Quincy doesn’t ‘love’ football, but he is good at it. I think he’s reached a point where he has a lot of friends on the team and I believe he wants to do well for them and for the school.
“No matter what he does and whatever sports he’s in, when it’s game time, his goal is to be the best out there.”
Quincy said he was primarily used in the backfield last season.
He rushed for 284 yards on 50 carries and two touchdowns, but also caught 23 passes for 260 yards and four more scores.
While standing on the sidelines and calling plays, Jason said he can find it difficult to manage being a father and a coach at the same time.
“It is. It was hard when I coached Gabe,” Jason said. “There are always comments and people questioning, but you have to let those negative comments not get in the way of things. One thing I try to do is, once we leave the field and go home, I’m just dad. I try to minimize that as much as possible.
“They need to have that separation.”
Having his wife, Michelle, be a key spoke on the family wheel is also helpful.
Jason credits Michelle for most of everything that centers around Dexter and Quincy.
“My wife is the most amazing person I know. If it weren’t for her, I would have never thought about adopting kids,” Jason said. “She understood that there was a need out there and what we could do as a family.
“It’s worked out for the best for all of us.