Robert J. Burton, Jr.

A 1969 graduate of Emory & Henry, Robert “Bob” Burton, Jr. was a co-captain his senior year and lettered in the sport three years.  He was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame a decade after graduating.

After graduating, Burton taught at Bassett High School for a brief period, then moved to Christiansburg High School, where he coached boys’ basketball.  Following a dismal first season which saw only one win, Burton’s team produced a 19-4 record-breaking season in his second year.

His coaching and eye for the game caught the attention of Don DeVoe, the head men’s basketball coach at Virginia Tech at the time, who invited Burton join his staff as a recruiter and a scout when DeVoe accepted the head coaching position at University of Wyoming.  After a year, he took a position on the men’s basketball staff of Wake Forest University.  Burton again joined Don DeVoe as an assistant coach a year later, when DeVoe took the helm of the men’s basketball program at University of Tennessee in 1978.