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Obituaries

Geneva Community Remembers Coach John Barton

Geneva celebrates the life of a high school teacher who brought out the best in the athletes and students he coached.

John Barton's funeral Tuesday night might have been the best I've ever been to—maybe because it wasn't so much a funeral as a celebration of a good man's life.

Yes, there were plenty of sniffles and more than a few tears, but there was also a great deal of laughter—as Barton's hero, Jim Valvano, might have scripted it—as well as the lasting impression of a man whose career was devoted to motivating others to be greater, perhaps, than they ever thought they could be.

"He loved the Geneva community, and the Geneva community loved him back," said Barton's son, Scott.

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One theme that kept repeating, over and over, from relatives and friends, former students and athletes who stood to speak Tuesday, was how much Barton cared about and respected his players and students.

Scott told the story of when Barton was coaching in a summer baseball league that had a policy of sending lesser players to a lower level—a policy his dad detested and was determined to prove wrong.

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One of his athletes was a girl who was in line to be sent down. But Barton noticed she had long legs and good speed, so he spent hours teaching her to bunt and to steal bases. He made her the leadoff hitter, and she became one of the best players on the team.

Legendary Geneva football coach Jerry Auchstetter, who was best man at Barton's wedding, said the 27 years he worked with Barton were the best of his life.

"He never fell into the trap of labelling or pigeon-holing a student," Auchstetter said. "He flat out refused to take that road."

If the athlete was known as a trouble-maker, Barton found a way to get him back on track. "He treated all the same," Auchstetter said. "He gave them a chance."

Leon McNair—and I may not have that spelling right—said he met John Barton 52 years ago at Southern Illinois University. Years later, after they had grown up and had families of their own, Leon lived in Oswego but brought his kids to every Geneva home game Barton coached—in part because he wanted to show his kids the values of effort and teamwork.

"His ability to bring the best out of his kids was John's greatest gift," McNair said. "What a wonderful difference John Barton's life has had on so many of you."

Former Geneva quarterback Kurt Schick described Barton as "a great motivator and a great coach to play for."

Geneva High School Principal Tom Rogers said he was a hot-tempered quarterback in high school, but Barton taught him—through repeated admonition and a lot of patience—to gain self-control. He said Barton's advice and example have been instrumental in his career as an educator, a career he truly loves.

Barton's nephew, Alex Freeman, described his Uncle John as "the ultimate team player."

"You worked hard and were humble. And he worked, just like those players did," he said.

Years after Barton had retired, Freeman said, even a mention of Barton's name was greeted with smiles and well-wishes.

"The respect and admiration always were so clear," he said. "Why? Because he respected all those people he came across."

Barton was known for his booming voice and his intensity on the football sidelines or from the basketball bench, but Scott said his dad could be "pretty darned wacky at times" and was always a "really warm, approachable personality."

The audience laughed when he told the story of being 7 or 8 years old on the football practice field when his dad made a chant out of some football coaching slogan to be "agile, mobile, hostile."

Scott said the memory always makes him smile, although, "to this day, I don't know what that meant."

Schick did a wonderful John Barton imitation in several very funny stories. He said coach had "a little Harry Caray in him," or possibly a little Yogi Berra, and remembered Coach Barton bellowing when the basketball team was gearing up against rival Batavia, whose star in those days was Thad Tousana.

"You've got to get out on Tunisia!" he said.

And in another anecdote: "You've got to get out on him: He's a straight-A student!"

Barton taught gym and driver's education, among other classes. Another former Geneva quarterback, Ted Toburen, GHS class of 1975, told a story about Barton's advice in driver's ed.

"Stop signs are like receivers downfield," Barton told him. "You got to be looking for them."

Doug Reese, also from the class of 1975, said Barton was one of the coaches who inspired him to take up the profession. Reese coached wrestling, mostly at the college level, for 32 years, has coached elite U.S. teams in five world championships, the Pan American Games, was on staff for the '96 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and is the author of the book Take it to the Next Level, Performance Principles for Life.

In early spring, Reese stopped by Geneva and paid a visit to his former coach, who was fighting cancer. 

"I'm getting out of bed. I want to see Reeser," Barton said.

They spent an hour or two talking, and Barton told Reese how much his loved his wife, Val—another theme repeated throughout Tuesday evening's celebration at Malone Funeral Home.

"I couldn't have fought this fight without that woman," Barton said.

"With him, sports and life ran parallel—including what he was going through with cancer," said Scott. "He said to focus on winning the little battles."

Scott said Barton took to heart Valvano's famous injuction to laugh, to think and to be moved to emotion every day and recalled Valvano's inspirational 1993 ESPY Awards speech, given about eight weeks before Valvano died of cancer.

"Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever."

Barton had a lot of winning seasons at Geneva. He was an assistant to the Auchstetter football teams that went undefeated for four seasons. As Rogers pointed out, he was the coach of the noted 74-70 win against East Aurora in 1981, perhaps the in Geneva sports history.

Near the end of the celebration at Malone's Tuesday night, a man whose name I didn't catch stood and summed up the feelings of a community.

"He lost the battle with cancer, but he won the hearts and respect of all of you, and that's his best victory."

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