What’s in a Name?

A rose, by any other name, is still a rose.

So, too, is an Aberegg.

That’s what Courtney Aberegg has discovered. It’s a lesson shared with Venessa Ferragamo and Spencer George.

When it comes to high school sports in Orange County, these three athletes find themselves carrying on the family name.

In some cases, such as Aberegg’s, it’s no big deal.

Ferragamo, on the other hand, longs for the day when “Daughter of Vince Ferragamo” doesn’t seem to be part of her surname.

And George has discovered that living up to the family legacy can be pretty important . . . especially at the dinner table.

By no means are they unique. Aberegg and her brother, Brian, are not the only second-generation athletes in Orange County. Ferragamo and her two sisters are not the only children of a “celebrity” parent. George is not the only athlete who is part of a succession of successful siblings.

But they are part of a landscape filled with names that make observers say, “Hey, I wonder if . . .”

A lot of times, the answer is, “Yes, they are related.”

Cream of the Crop

The soccer-playing George family from Mission Viejo has built quite a reputation, much like the volleyball-playing Oden sisters--Kim, Elaina and Beverly--did at Irvine High in the 1980s before moving on to U.S. Olympic teams.

Spencer George is a senior at Santa Margarita, which has the county’s top-ranked boys’ soccer team.

The legacy he’s trying to match? All four of his older brothers played soccer, and three have played professionally.

Steve, who graduated from Mater Dei in 1987, played for the Wichita Wings in the Major Indoor Soccer League. Sam, a 1988 graduate of Mater Dei, played with the Anaheim Splash and for Major League Soccer teams in New England, Tampa and (currently) Chicago. Seth, who graduated from Santa Margarita in 1995, is with the Galaxy.

The oldest brother, Scott, who graduated from Mater Dei in 1985, coaches the West Coast Soccer Club.

“It’s tough at times because my family expects a lot from me,” said Spencer, who has not attracted the same kind attention from college recruiters that his brothers did.

“I don’t really get preoccupied with living up to the family name because I’m too busy focusing on achieving the most I can in soccer and school, and in doing so, I feel I am living up to the family name.

“I’m very fortunate to have my older brothers because they’ve forced me to look higher.”

It comes from being in a competitive family. Any family with five sons is likely to be extremely competitive. The sons gravitated toward soccer, and each raised the bar a little higher.

“My oldest brother, Scott, had the greatest disadvantage because he set the path,” Spencer said. “All my brothers, in a way, have paved a path for each succeeding brother.”

As the path got clearer, their expectations grew.

“We were under scrutiny all the time,” Sam George said. “It was a goal to win, but more important was to make your brothers feel like you had done well and accomplished something. If you didn’t give it your all, the first persons who let you know were your brothers and your parents. From that standpoint, we were lucky, because we had someone pushing us all the time.”

Right now, Seth is pushing the hardest. He set Santa Margarita scoring records, and Spencer is going to fall short in trying to break them.

“I don’t know what his reason is for taking a special interest in my future, but he has,” Spencer said of Seth. “He’s forcing me to go out and work out, lift weights, forced me to never settle for what I may have achieved in one game.”

For Me, or My Father?

If her name were Smith, Jones or White, Venessa Ferragamo could escape the expectations attached to her last name. But as the daughter of Vince Ferragamo, the quarterback who led the Rams to the 1980 Super Bowl, Venessa is easily picked out of a crowd.

One of the county’s top basketball players, she is, in the words of her coach, Rich Schaaf, “conservative, wholesome, humble, a 4.4 student who’s almost embarrassed by the attention.”

But it bothers her sometimes when “the daughter of Vince Ferragamo” is used to define her in those moments she receives credit for her accomplishments.

Vince hates it even more. “I think, ‘Why are they mentioning me?’ ” he said. “I had nothing to do with it.

“We’ve had our day in the sun. It’s their turn to have their day in the sun. Venessa, or any kid, needs to make a name for themselves. It’s up to them now.”

Ferragamo isn’t the only Santa Margarita “celebrity.” She also has two sisters, Cara, a sophomore swimmer and cross-country runner, and Jenna, a freshman soccer and softball player.

Former Heisman Trophy winners John Cappelletti (1973) and Charles White (1979) have children attending Santa Margarita too.

Defensive lineman John Cappelletti Jr. is the second of three brothers going through the program. His older brother, Nick, was an all-county player two seasons ago. John Jr. was the team’s lineman of the year last fall, and Thomas played safety on the sophomore team.

Running back Ashton White, who was on the South Mission Viejo team that played in the 1997 Little League World Series, scored 35 touchdowns for the Eagles’ undefeated freshman team.

Being a celebrity’s kid has its drawbacks, though.

“There have been times, recently, when I felt, ‘Gosh, I want my accomplishments to be for who I am and not my name,’ ” Venessa Ferragamo said. “I love having my dad being famous. It’s cool. But sometimes I just wish my name was Smith or Jones, so that if I got noticed, I would really know that it was for what I had done. My accomplishment would feel more my own.”

In fact, it even became an issue recently among Ferragamo’s teammates.

“Not that they’re jealous,” Venessa said, “but I feel they think they deserve more recognition than they get, and that things are coming to me because of my name. My teammates deserve just as much credit as I do.”

Ferragamo, who hopes to be a pediatrician or orthopedist, is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 15.4 points and 8.5 rebounds.

For the Fun of It

Courtney Aberegg isn’t the standout basketball player Ferragamo is, but she attracts attention from referees who check the scorebook before her games.

During free throws, when she’s taking the ball out of bounds, or while she’s introducing herself before tipoff because she’s one of El Dorado’s team captains, the question always comes up.

“Are you related to Rick Aberegg?”

Rick Aberegg, who graduated from Katella High in 1970, still holds the school season scoring record, 27.5 points per game. He played at Fullerton College, and then two seasons at Long Beach State. A point guard, he helped the 49ers go 50-5 from 1972-74 and be ranked as high as No. 3.

When Aberegg sits in the stands nowadays, he will occasionally tell his daughter to shoot more and keep her dribble, but mostly he keeps quiet.

“I tell them what I know, but that doesn’t go very far,” said Aberegg, a tile contractor. “Courtney keeps telling me, ‘Yeah I know,’ but she doesn’t do it. But she’s having fun and that’s all I care about.”

Courtney also runs track for El Dorado, and her brother Brian is on the sophomore basketball team.

“My dad always tells me about things that he did to become a better player,” Courtney said. “I’ve read newspaper articles on my dad, but I’ve never felt pressure to be as good as him. He has always told me to have fun. And to shoot the ball, but I don’t do that much, either.”