Ron Burton bleeds purple.
Both he and his wife went to Northwestern. So did all four of their kids. He became an NU football legend in the late ’50s. And he still gets choked up every time he sings the alma mater.
And now, the Ron Burton Academic Advising Center is being named in his honor.
“To put into words what this means to me — it’s very difficult, because it means everything,” Burton said.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Saturday for the new Harold Anderson Hall, where the advising center will be located.
NU Director of Athletics Rick Taylor said the center will be the focal point of the building, which will be razed and rebuilt on its current site just north of Ryan Field, at a projected cost of about $8 million.
University President Henry Bienen said he was “gun-shy” when Taylor first approached him about the project, because the university has so much capital already tied up in other construction projects.
“But when Rick also said we were going to name this building after Ron Burton, that was the clincher,” Bienen said at the ceremony.
Leaks in the roof and the basement of the present Anderson Hall are proof a new building is necessary, Taylor said.
“This is the worst building on campus,” he said. “It’s a mechanical and structural nightmare.”
Taylor said construction will begin in the spring on the new facility, which also will house administrative offices for the athletics department and a wrestling facility named for NU Senior Associate Athletic Director Ken Kraft.
“This is a very special and humbling and heartwarming day for me,” Kraft said Saturday.
Kraft, a former NU wrestling coach, has been serving the university in some capacity for 45 years.
Burton, Education ’60, was an All-American halfback at NU and later a first-round draft pick and star running back from the Boston Patriots, now known as the New England Patriots.
“(Burton) was a great athlete,” Kraft said. “He had the great skills, the great talent and the great heart.”
Burton, named NCAA Back of the Year in 1959, was inducted into the NU Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
“He is the quintessential student-athlete,” Taylor said. “In a school that prides itself on student-athletes, he is the standard.”