INDUCTION YEAR: 2025

BASEBALL | COACH

FOR OVER FOUR DECADES, COACH BURTON WAS THE HEART AND SOUL OF MCCUTCHEON BASEBALL, LEADING THE MAVERICKS WITH PASSION, INTEGRITY, AND AN UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE. FROM HIS EARLY DAYS AS A BIOLOGY TEACHER TO HIS 18-YEAR TENURE AS ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL AND ATHLETICS DIRECTOR, AND LATER HIS ROLE IN STUDENT SERVICES, COACH BURTON DEDICATED HIS CAREER TO SHAPING YOUNG MEN BOTH ON AND OFF THE FIELD.

AS MCCUTCHEON’S HEAD BASEBALL COACH FROM 1979 TO 2015, HE BUILT A PROGRAM OF SUSTAINED SUCCESS, AMASSING 799 VICTORIES AT MCCUTCHEON ALONE AND AN INCREDIBLE 920 CAREER WINS OVERALL. UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP, THE MAVERICKS SOARED TO TWO STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (1999, 2003), A STATE RUNNER-UP FINISH (1994), THREE SEMI-STATE TITLES, SIX REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, AND AN ASTOUNDING 12 SECTIONAL TITLES. HIS TEAMS ALSO CAPTURED 15 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS, CEMENTING MCCUTCHEON’S PLACE AS A POWERHOUSE IN INDIANA BASEBALL.

BEYOND THE WINS, COACH BURTON’S LEGACY IS DEFINED BY THE PLAYERS HE MENTORED. UNDER HIS GUIDANCE, MAJOR LEAGUE STANDOUTS CLAYTON RICHARD AND NICK WITTGREN TOOK THEIR TALENTS TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL. HE COACHED SEVEN MLB DRAFTEES, TWO INDIANA MR. BASEBALL WINNERS, AND 28 DIVISION I COLLEGE PLAYERS, WITH 25 FORMER PLAYERS AND ASSISTANT COACHES GOING ON TO LEAD PROGRAMS OF THEIR OWN—THREE OF THEM WINNING STATE TITLES.

A TWO-TIME INDIANA COACH OF THE YEAR AND 13-TIME REGIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR, COACH BURTON’S IMPACT HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED FAR AND WIDE. HE HAS BEEN ENSHRINED IN THE INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION HALL OF FAME (1998) AND THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC COACHES ASSOCIATION HALL OF FAME (2016), AND IN 2025, HE WILL TAKE HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE INDIANA SPORTS HALL OF FAME.

WE HONOR HIS GREATEST HOME—MCCUTCHEON HIGH SCHOOL—THE PLACE WHERE HE BUILT A CHAMPIONSHIP CULTURE, SHAPED GENERATIONS OF ATHLETES, AND LEFT AN UNDENIABLE IMPRINT ON THE MAVERICK FAMILY. HIS LEADERSHIP, DEDICATION, AND LOVE FOR THE GAME HAVE SET THE STANDARD FOR WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAVERICK.

IT IS WITH GREAT PRIDE THAT WE OFFICIALLY WELCOME COACH JAKE BURTON INTO THE MCCUTCHEON ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME!