DAVID SANDERS / ARIZONA DAILY STAR 2007

Other articles by Greg Hansen:

Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : Black learns golf's secret Greg Hansen : Tubac's 'Triangle' a 'Wreck' for golfers Greg Hansen : First stop Indianapolis Greg Hansen : Historically, 44th draft picks have brief or no NBA history Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : USC, O'Neill a good fit Greg Hansen : For Miller, hard work is a legacy from father Greg Hansen: El Rio's No. 8 tee shot is intimidating Greg Hansen : ASU's Tucson pipeline pumps as rich as ever Greg Hansen : Tucson's Tyler appears calm before the storm at Bethpage Greg Hansen : Friends for life reunite

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Eben Britton's mother, Abbie, is an Ivy League grad, a writer and extreme athlete who has trained ultimate fighters, taught yoga and founded a fashion magazine for plus-size women.

Abbie's twin sister, Eben's aunt Martha, has been, among other things, an acting coach in Hollywood. She worked with Beyoncé for the movie "Austin Powers in Goldmember.''

Eben's father, Jeff Britton, is a former scholarship basketball player at St. Francis (N.Y.) and Jacksonville who, at 22, read a book about the great masters of painting and, thus inspired, launched such a successful career that his work has been displayed in art galleries in New York City and Los Angeles.

If you saw the epic 1967 movie "Bonnie and Clyde'' and found the character of Blanche Barrow to be splendid, it is because Estelle Parsons won an Academy Award for that performance.

Estelle Parsons is Eben Britton's grandmother. Her father, Eben Parsons, was a Harvard man who became a New England attorney the same way his father did.

It is from this lineage of successful performers that Eben Britton has established his place in another notable lineage.

The junior from Burbank, Calif., is poised to take his place among the most distinguished offensive lineman in UA football history — Tom Greenfield, Bill Lueck, Joe Tofflemire, Glenn Parker and John Fina among them — but it hasn't created a look-at-me, I'm-a-star persona.

"He's an intense guy on the field, a very good football player," UA junior center Blake Kerley says. "But off the field he's just a big old goofball."

If you ask Britton about his upbringing, he doesn't bite.

Wasn't your grandmother a regular on the TV sitcom "Roseanne," you ask?

"When I was a kid, I went with my brother to a filming session and met John Goodman and some other people,'' he says. "It was OK.''

Britton did not alert the UA media relations department to his family's background. In his media guide bio, it says, economically, he "comes from a family of athletes, actors, writers and painters.''

Britton is about to be discovered on a much larger stage.

With routine progress from his outstanding sophomore season (he was a second-team All-Pac-10 right tackle), Britton projects as a first-team selection who could receive All-America attention.

He is big enough (6 feet 6 inches, 305 pounds) and has such good mobility, footwork and speed — not to mention an on-field mean streak, which might be as important as all other variables — that he projects as a first-round NFL draft pick.

He was asked if he remembers getting overwhelmed as a freshman starter in 2006.

"No,'' he says, flatly.

He adds that he plays with "a chip on my shoulder.''

Perhaps he gets some of that drive from his grandmother, an American Theater Hall of Famer who at 80 is still a regular on Broadway. The New York Times recently referred to her as "imperturbable.''

"You have to go out there and deliver the goods in every performance,'' she told the newspaper. "Nothing compares with facing 700 people in the theatre.''

Britton will begin his junior season at left tackle, the most prominent position on the offensive line. UA coach Mike Stoops suggested that Britton revels in taking ownership of the group.

"We've taken a lot of guff,'' Britton says, a reference to an '06 season in which quarterback Willie Tuitama suffered a series of concussions and sacks that essentially cost Arizona a winning season. "It was all our fault. Whatever. That stuff really takes a toll on a young guy.

"It's tough being an offensive lineman. You get all of the blame and none of the glory. It goes without saying that you've got to be a pretty tough guy. But you can't let that affect you in a negative way. You sweep it aside and take some things as motivation.''

Among the many works of Eben's artistic father, Jeff, is a 12-inch-by-36-inch oil painting of the Los Angeles Coliseum. He also drew, in pencil, a much larger view of the Coliseum last year, about the time Arizona led the mighty Trojans there 13-10 in the fourth quarter.

Although Jeff Britton did not indicate a score, both of the paintings depict scoreboards at the Coliseum.

Perhaps, like the UA's '08 football season, it is left to the imagination. With Eben Britton at left tackle, the Wildcats are finally in position to imagine some happy endings.