I’ve never been to the movie theater to see a movie I’ve already seen, but that’s exactly what I’m doing today. With the Top Gun movies returning to theaters for one week only for the 40th anniversary, I felt the need…the need for a ticket to see the first film on the big screen.
Growing up, there was a lot of lore surrounding the volleyball scene, but not for the iconically overly oiled shirtless male bodies, but because my dad was a background actor who played the referee in the movie. He had a front row seat to watch the cinematic sports match that now holds a spot in the cultural zeitgeist.
Recently when my dad sent in pictures and measurements of his Top Gun hat to an auction website, he decided to write a short story for provenance and some background on how he got his supporting role. I’ve included it below!
Top Gun Volleyball Scene — A Ref’s View by Eric Barton
“The morning sun was already hot when we drove onto Miramar Naval Air Station in 1985. I was a San Diego State volleyball player then, expecting nothing more than a day of watching a movie scene get filmed. Tom Cruise was supposed to be there. That alone felt like enough.
The volleyball court sat on asphalt, sand poured over concrete, white trailers lining one edge like a temporary Hollywood outpost. A few of my SDSU teammates were already there—only it took a moment to realize they weren’t just themselves. They were becoming Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards. Doubles. Standins. Movie magic at work.
Then my roommate Terry waved me over and introduced me to director Tony Scott. He looked at me and said, “Let me hear you say ‘10–10.’” I did. He smiled, pointed at a trailer, and said, “Go get your hair cut.”
Minutes later I was in a barber chair next to Val Kilmer, trading small talk about volleyball while clippers buzzed. A Navy haircut, a white Tshirt, a spray bottle of water, a handful of sand rubbed into my chest—suddenly I looked like I’d been baking in the sun all day. They sat me on a tire at midcourt. I was the referee now. Somehow, I was in the movie.
Cruise roared in on a motorcycle, leapt off, and let it crash to the ground. Cameras rolled. Takes repeated. Actors rotated in and out with doubles. Cruise struggled to palm a volleyball for one closeup; I offered a suggestion from a few feet away. He shut it down instantly. Movie stars, I learned, do things their way.
There were rehearsed rallies, intentional misses, and one perfectly staged spike that made it into the final cut. At lunch I ate like a college kid who didn’t know when the next free meal would come.
By afternoon, Cruise kept checking his watch, building toward a quiet walkoff with Anthony Edwards. In the background, I removed my sunglasses—confused, curious, reacting. My first bit of acting, caught forever on film.
The “10–10” line never made the movie. By the time I saw Top Gun, I understood why. Sunset came, filming wrapped, and someone pressed a hundreddollar bill into my hand. I kept the hat.
I showed up to watch a volleyball scene. I left with a story—and a small, sandy place in movie history.”
This afternoon at the movies felt different. I loved the nostalgic atmosphere and I thought about how it must have felt to see this film for the first time in 1986. A movie that’s been around now for forty years! A piece of American culture and the reason we’ll continue to feel the need…the need for speed.
Read. Write. Listen. Create. 
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