Barton, George A. (George Arthur), 1885-1969

George Arthur Barton was born at Northfield, Minnesota on February 20, 1885, and moved to St. Paul in 1893. In July 1903, immediately after graduating from high school, he was appointed assistant sports editor of the St. Paul Daily News . He was sports editor for the Minneapolis Daily News from December 1903 to February 1923, and for the Minneapolis Tribune from February 1923 to May 1941. As an editor and journalist, he became known as an expert on boxing, football, and baseball. After the Tribune affiliated with the Minneapolis Star-Journal in May 1941 he continued to work as a sports columnist and feature writer until his retirement in 1957.

An all-around athlete in high school, Barton supplemented his income during the early years of his newspaper career as a professional boxer (1902-1909) and as a boxing instructor at the St. Paul YMCA. In 1915 he was appointed a boxing referee by the Minnesota State Athletic Commission. As a referee he presided over more than 12,000 bouts, including 25 in which world champions competed, and gained a national reputation for his impartiality in the ring and for his insistence on stringent controls over professional boxing practices. He was a member of the National Boxing Association of America, now called the World Boxing Association. Barton served on the Minnesota State Athletic Commission from 1942 until his death on May 8, 1969.

Biographical information was taken from the collection and from the opening chapters of Barton's book, My Lifetime in Sports (Minneapolis, 1957).

From the guide to the George A. Barton papers., undated and 1841, 1888-1969., (Minnesota Historical Society)