Family cherishes
5 generations, a century of bleeding blue
EL CENTRO — More than a hundred years since the first member of the family graduated from Central Union High School, a second fifth-generation member of the same family is set to graduate that same school on Friday night.
Bradley Denton, who will walk across the state at CUHS graduation, is the latest member of the Denton/ McConnell family to earn a high school diploma as a Spartan since his great-great-grandmother did it first back in 1914. His older brother, Derek. was the first fifth-generation CUHS graduate in the family.
“It’s very cool to look back at the long line of family history in CUHS,” Bradley said.
“It’s good to be part of this family tradition. We bleed Spartan blue,” said Derek, who graduated from CUHS in 2016.
Both said their best memories of their time at CUHS involve the sports they’ve played. For Bradley, being part of the CUHS football team was the highlight of his years in high school, which included a win over Brawley in last year’s Bell Game. He was also a member of the baseball team.
Derek, who played football and baseball and ran cross country, said he enjoyed the most being part of the baseball team. In her time as a Spartan up until 1914, great-greatgrandmother Callie McConnell was a member of the basketball and swimming teams. Her son, Jack McConnell, graduated from CUHS in 1940.
Paula McConnell Pangle, a CUHS graduate herself and the great aunt of Bradley and Derek, has kept the portraits and yearbook photos of previous generations of family who have attended CUHS in her home, the McConnell ranch northeast of El Centro.
“(Attending CUHS) was very influential for me. Thank goodness they had a good ag program,” she said. “I’m really thankful that we were born into a family that has such a legacy.”
The family’s fourth generation of graduates includes Derek and Bradley’s father, Chris, a 1989 graduate and their mother, Leandra, who graduated one year before in 1988. Interestingly, paternal grandfather Frank Rodriguez and paternal grandmother Janet Ann McConnell both graduated CUHS in 1967. Chris Denton, said at the time he attended CUHS, the family’s history at the school never crossed his mind. It wasn’t even when son Derek first attended Central Union.
Both boys had the choice to attend either CUHS or Southwest, with both deciding to follow the family tradition. Though Chris didn’t try to sway his sons, Leandra said she encouraged them just a bit to choose Central.
“I personally pushed for Central. My father spoke very highly of the school’s academic program, extracurricular activities and tradition when I was about to start at Central,” Leandra said. “I wanted my boys to experience what I did. I was very happy they decided to go to Central.”
Bradley who graduates today wants to major in history and plans to attend Cal Poly, Pomona, his brother Derek is currently enrolled at Cal State, Stanislaus, but will transfer to Cal Poly, too, to pursue a degree in agricultural science. With both choosing Cal Poly as their college, and with Paula McConnell having attended the same college, a new family tradition may be taking roots.
As for the family’s current tradition with CUHS, it may continue. Both Derek and Bradley said they liked growing up in El Centro, and they are open to having their children become the sixth generation of Spartans in the family.