Ken Burt

Athlete

Ken Burt graduated from Berlin High in 1957 where he was a three-sport athlete. He was the catcher on the baseball team as a freshman before switching to golf during his sophomore year. He also played football for four years and was one of the co-captains in his senior year.

During his football career at Berlin Ken played offensive end and defensive linebacker. According to Hall of Fame member and the co-captain of the 1955 State Championship team Robert McCann, he remembered Ken as an athlete that although he was not an extremely big man, no one had a bigger heart than Kenny on the football field. In the championship game that year, he caught a pass with 4 minutes to go in the game when Berlin was down by 5 points. The team ended up winning the game by 3 points and the State Championship ending an undefeated season.

The golf team at Berlin started out as a club team in 1953 led by legendary coach Don Bates. In 1954 the team became an official sport with a few matches played. With no home course, Bates would pile everyone into his station wagon and play the hackers nine at Goodwin. He would have everyone sign in with BHS after their name as if they were from Buckley High School to qualify for the Hartford half-price discount of .15 cents for nine holes.

In the years Ken played (1955,’56, and ’57), what set the team apart from the other sports at the high school was that they played their matches against schools above their small school class. In the 1956 State Tourney Berlin was the only small school participating and Ken was the medalist. The following year, 1957, the team qualified again for the State Tournament and out of 73 schools Berlin was ranked 27th as the only Class C school represented with Ken one of the best golfers in the State ranked 6th in individual scoring. The Berlin golf program went on to produce more College All-Americans than any other Berlin sport.

After graduating, Ken joined the Air Force and while stationed in Sacramento, CA, in his spare time played in and won many tournaments on base and though he was not the type of guy to brag or keep records of his accomplishments if you played alongside him you experienced his desire to win recalled one of his high school teammates.

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