Harris Scott Barton (born April 19, 1964) is an American fund manager and a former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He played as an

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). A two-time first-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

, he won three

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

s with the 49ers. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

Early life

Harris Scott Barton was born on April 19, 1964, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Both of Barton's parents were from New York City and were Jewish; his mother Joan from an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

family in

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, and his father Paul from

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Paul Barton was a traveling salesman who sold women's uniforms throughout the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

. Both of his parents developed and eventually died of

brain cancer A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cance ...

, leading Barton later in life to found Champion Charities, which raises money to fund

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

research at

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

. Barton began playing football at age five. He grew up in a

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

Orthodox Jewish home in

, and attended Hebrew Academy of Atlanta, now known as the Atlanta Jewish Academy, through the fifth grade and graduated from Atlanta's Dunwoody High School. Barton was named DeKalb County MVP his senior year at Dunwoody.

College career

Barton was recruited by over 100 colleges including

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and Notre Dame, but chose the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

with head coach Dick Crum. Originally thought to be a possible defensive lineman, Barton was switched to center early in his first summer of practice at UNC. Barton was a four-year starter during his time at UNC; starting center his freshman year, before moving to left tackle mid-season during his sophomore year, playing that position for the remainder of his collegiate career. He played against William "Refrigerator" Perry and his brother Michael Dean Perry at Clemson. Barton was named to a number of All-America teams, including the NCAA's All-American Scholar/Athlete Team and Academic All-ACC. During his senior year Barton was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Outstanding Offensive Lineman. While at UNC Barton played in the Japan Bowl. Barton graduated with a BA in finance from UNC in 1987.

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Barton was a first-round pick of the

in 1987, and the 22nd pick overall. He was the first offensive lineman chosen in the opening round by the

since Forrest Blue in 1968. During his first year playing for the 49ers, Barton was runner up in Rookie of the Year voting. In 1994, during the 49ers opener against the Los Angeles Raiders at

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium located in the Bayview-Hunters Point, Hunters Point area of San Francisco, California, United States. It was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 S ...

, Barton tore his left triceps tendon which required surgery to repair, benching him for part of the '94 season. He was replaced by Harry Boatswain. During his ten-year pro career, Barton played 138 career NFL games, including 89 consecutive games and three

s. Barton started in 134 of his 138 career games. Barton retired after the 1998 season. In 2006 he was inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California, and in March 2011 he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Post-playing career

Along with former teammates Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana, Barton was a Managing Partner of Champion Ventures in 1999, raising $40 million in an original round from professional athletes such as

Steve Kerr Stephen Douglas Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the United States men's national ...

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

, Keyshawn Johnson and

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. ( ; born September 15, 1961) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He played college f ...

. Champion Ventures, later renamed HRJ, was a

fund of funds A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A f ...

which invested in

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

, and

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

s and managed $2.4 billion at its peak in May 2008. In April 2009, the fund was taken over by Capital Dynamics in a bid to augment its fund of funds platform and gain a foothold in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

. In October 2010, he left Capital Dynamics to start the angel investment firm H. Barton Asset Management.

Personal life

Barton lives in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, with his wife, Megan, and their four children. He donates his time to a number of organizations including REDF, The First Tee, Champion Charities (a

501(c) organization A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...

, he founded with former teammate and business partner Ronnie Lott), the 49ers Foundation and the Giants Community Fund.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Harris 1964 births Living people American football offensive tackles American hedge fund managers American money managers Businesspeople from Atlanta Jewish American players of American football National Conference Pro Bowl players North Carolina Tar Heels football players Players of American football from Fulton County, Georgia San Francisco 49ers players Players of American football from Atlanta Dunwoody High School alumni 21st-century American Jews Jews from Georgia (U.S. state) College Football Hall of Fame inductees All-American college football players