Growing up in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, Eaton was an outstanding football, track, and boxing athlete at Belle Fourche High School. After High School, he graduated from Black Hills State Teachers College where he played end and became captain of the team in his junior year. He remained at Black Hills after graduation, becoming the line coach there for one year. Eaton then coached football at DuPre High School for several years leading up to his service in World War II. Eaton retired in the mid-1980s, and died at the age of 88 on March 14, 2007 in Nampa, Idaho.