Service Scheduled for Slain Saddleback Player

A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. Monday for Albert Famuli, a 15-year-old Saddleback High School sophomore and junior varsity football player who was shot and killed last Tuesday during an argument at a party in Santa Ana.

The service will be at MacDougall Mortuary, 1610 E. First St., Santa Ana.

Famuli, a native of Samoa, was a gregarious, 235-pound lineman who was well-liked by his peers, Saddleback Coach Jerry Witte said.

“He was like a big teddy bear,” Witte said. “You couldn’t miss him walking around school. Everyone liked him. He’d see someone he knew, and he’d always pat you on the back. It’s just a tragic thing.”

Witte said Famuli had academic troubles his freshman year, but after joining the football team this year, he “just turned himself around 180 degrees--in school and in everything.”

The junior varsity played Thursday’s game against Tustin as scheduled, with the players wearing Famuli’s number, 75, on the back of their helmets.

Counselors were on campus last week to help students cope with their grief. The campus was decorated with banners and signs honoring Famuli, including one that read: “Remember Albert.”