Bella Reseigh is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Apollo High School for AZPreps365

GLENDALE — Brett Aker laughs now about the punishment laps he ran as a teenager. His dad, longtime Apollo baseball coach Jerod Aker, often made him the example — sometimes for talking back, sometimes for showing up late after spending time with the girl who would later become his wife.

“Playing for your dad is interesting,” Brett said. “He’s a very stern coach. There were a lot of times I was the one getting in trouble — at home and at the field.”

This spring, their roles flipped. After 19 seasons and more than 500 wins, Jerod stepped down as Apollo’s head coach and handed the program to Brett — the same kid he once benched. Jerod stayed on as an assistant, still throwing batting-practice, only now at his son’s direction.

“I knew I was coming to the end of my head-coaching career,” Jerod said. “He teaches here, he played here, and he’d been my assistant for four years. The timing was perfect. I wanted it to be his voice.”

Around campus, the Aker name is almost its own athletic department. Jerod’s daughter once coached softball, and Brett’s wife, Olivia, leads the girls soccer team. Teachers joke you could throw a rock at Apollo and hit an Aker.

“It’s kind of cool to be a household name for the Apollo community,” Brett said. “Every time a teacher sees me, they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re one of the Akers — which one are you?’”

The family’s coaching tree runs deep. Jerod has mentored players who now lead programs around the Valley, including Hector Ortiz at Kellis High School. Jerod’s  teams have sent roughly 150 athletes to college programs and produced three Major League Baseball draftees.

But the real legacy isn’t in stats. It’s in the afternoons spent on the same dirt infield where father and son learned the game side by side.

Brett played four varsity seasons under Jerod, earning section player of the year before moving on to Arizona Christian University. When he returned to Apollo to teach math, coaching alongside his dad felt natural.

“We butt heads sometimes,” Brett said. “But it’s just competitive fire and two guys who love what we’re doing.”

That energy is easy to spot, said assistant coach Fernando Leal, who played with Brett as a teenager and now coaches the infield.

Fernando Leal, left, and Brett Aker, right, at pre-season practice on October 17, 2025 in Glendale AZ.

“They both get fired up — they’re both Akers,” Leal said. “The standards are the same, if not higher. We’re carrying on 19 seasons and 500 wins. A lot of programs say they’re family, but this one truly is.”

Leal and Brett first met when they were 10 years old. They’ve shared fields — and the occasional prank — ever since.

“I think the best memories are still the ones on this field,” Leal said.

“He once flipped the golf cart when we went to get water. Stuff like that — that’s what makes it fun.”

For senior shortstop Elias Muñoz, playing under both Akers feels like being part of a continuing story.

“It’s definitely new because we were so used to the bigger Aker,” Muñoz said. “But Coach Brett resembles his dad — same coaching style, same respect. It’s an honor to play on the same field he once did.”

Senior first baseman Angel Torres said the shift has been seamless.

“There’s nothing different,” Torres said. “Same dynamic — maybe more intensity.”

Torres has watched the roster swell from a few underclassmen to nearly 50 players.

“My freshman year we didn’t have a lot of guys come out,” he said. “Now all of us are seniors bringing the next guys up.”

Both players say the family’s presence makes the program feel closer.

“You can talk to any of the Akers — they all treat you the same,” Muñoz said. “It just feels like family.”

That atmosphere extends beyond the field. Jared volunteers with Arizona Christian University’s baseball program. Brett teaches algebra when he’s not raking the infield. Every summer, the Akers and their staff return to Morenci, Jerod’s hometown, to run youth baseball camps.

“I couldn’t be luckier to have a kid like him,” Jerod said. “He’s done a great job — as a coach, as a husband, as a teacher.”

From father to son, from player to coach, the Akers have kept Apollo baseball in the family — proof that tradition can turn a dugout into a time capsule.

The names on the lineup card may change, but the handwriting still looks familiar.