View source for Bert Baston

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1894–1979)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name        = Bert Baston
| image       =
| image_size  = 
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| position    = [[End (gridiron football)|End]]
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1894|12|3}}
| birth_place = [[St. Louis Park, Minnesota]], U.S.
| height_ft   = 6
| height_in   = 1
| weight_lbs  = 170
| high_school = [[St. Louis Park High School|St. Louis Park]]
| college     = [[Minnesota Golden Gophers football|Minnesota]] (1914–1916)
| pastteams   =
* [[Cleveland Tigers (NFL)|Cleveland Tigers]] ({{NFL Year|1920}})
| highlights  =
* 2× Consensus [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1915 College Football All-America Team|1915]], [[1916 College Football All-America Team|1916]])
* 3× First-team [[List of All-Big Ten Conference football teams|All-Western]] ([[1914 All-Western college football team|1914]]–[[1916 All-Western college football team|1916]])
| statleague  = APFC
| statlabel1  = Games played
| statvalue1  = 8
| statlabel2  = Games started
| statvalue2  = 7
| pfr         = BastBe20
| CollegeHOF  = 1316 
}}

'''Albert Preston Baston''' (December 3, 1894 – November 16, 1979) was an [[American football]] [[End (gridiron football)|end]] who played for the [[Cleveland Tigers (NFL)|Cleveland Tigers]] of the [[National Football League|American Professional Football Conference]] (APFC) for one season. He played [[college football]] for the [[Minnesota Golden Gophers football|Minnesota Golden Gophers]], where he was an [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] and one of the first great catchers of the [[forward pass]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.footballfoundation.org/Portals/7/nff/file_file/No.%2056,%20Vol.%203%20-%20October.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930102158/http://www.footballfoundation.org/Portals/7/nff/file_file/No.%2056,%20Vol.%203%20-%20October.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-30|volume=56|number=3|date=October 2014|title=Footballetter}}</ref> He was awarded the [[Navy Cross]] for "extraordinary heroism" in [[World War I]]. He was elected to the [[College Football Hall of Fame]] in 1954

==Early life and college career==
Baston was a sports phenomenon in high school, where he played for [[Saint Louis Park High School]] in [[St. Louis Park, Minnesota]]. Entering the University of Minnesota to study law, he played football on the school's 'elevens' at left end for three seasons beginning in 1914. He was captain of the team his final year. [[Walter Camp]] named him on his All-American team both in [[1915 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team|1915]] and in [[1916 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team|1916]].  His team was recognized with a [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS#NCAA records book|national championship]] in 1915, prior to the modern "consensus system."<ref>Widely praised in the media of that year, the 1915 team won all their games except for a single tie, which resulted from a dubious call. Later, a retroactive analysis by the [[Billingsley Report]] confirmed Minnesota to be the best team in the nation for that year.</ref>

In addition to his football honors, while at Minnesota Baston was a member of [[Phi Sigma Kappa]] fraternity. He was president of the Athletic Board of Control, a member of the University Senate, of the Junior Ball Association, elected to Iron Wedge, a senior society, and to [[Phi Delta Phi]] international legal honor society, along with various local clubs.<ref name="Signet, January 1955">{{Cite journal
| journal = The Signet, A Magazine for Members of Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity
| title = Gridiron Immortals, feature section
| author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> 
| editor = Earl F. Schoening
| date = January 1955
| pages = Vol LXVII, No. 1, pg 6
}}</ref>

==World War I service==
[[File:Bert_Baston.JPG|thumb|alt=Bert Baston|Bert Baston, National Football Hall of Fame, induction award]]
During [[World War I]] Baston served with the 17th Company of the [[5th Marine Regiment (United States)|5th Marine Regiment]]. He was a [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] and fought in France.  He suffered a critical leg injury while serving in the [[Battle of Belleau Wood]], with a hole in his leg "big enough to stick a broom handle through," according to family lore.<ref name="St. Louis Park historical record">[http://slphistory.org/bastonbert/ City of St. Louis Park historical record] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512223718/http://www.slphistory.org/history/bastonbert.asp |date=May 12, 2014 }}, accessed 10 May 2014</ref> Awarded the [[Navy Cross]], his official citation reads:

<blockquote>The Navy Cross is presented to Albert P. Baston, First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with the 5th Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F. in action near Château-Thierry, France. Although shot in both legs while leading his platoon through the woods at Hill 142, near Château-Thierry, France, on June 6, 1918, Lieutenant Baston refused treatment until he had personally assured himself that every man in his platoon was under cover and in good firing position.</blockquote>

The story of Baston's 5th Marine Regiment forms a key lesson of Marine Corps lore: It was in WWI and at [[Battle of Belleau Wood|Belleau Wood]] where Marines of the 5th earned the nickname [[Devil Dog]]s.

==Business and coaching careers==
[[Image:Bert_Baston_1935Dec1.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Minnesota's Golden Gophers, 1935 National Champions, coaches: Bert Baston, end coach; [[Bernie Bierman]], head coach; and [[George Hauser]], line coach. The fourth varsity tutor, [[Red Dawson|Lowek (Red) Dawson]], who coached the backfield, was absent when the photograph was taken]] 
Baston spent almost a year in the hospital, and when he got out he started a bakery in Detroit.  He married Ruby Laird in 1920. Baston played that same year for the [[Cleveland Tigers (NFL)|Cleveland Tigers]], an early [[NFL]] team. Eventually the couple returned to Minneapolis and started the Bert Baston Chevrolet Co. at 3038 Hennepin Avenue (1933), a site now redeveloped into commercial space.<ref>3038 Hennepin is now the location of the Magers and Quinn bookstore, in Uptown.</ref>  His sales manager during the 1930s was George Richard Baston, the only surviving son of Bert's uncle, John Judson Baston.

Baston served as the Minnesota Gophers' ends coach from 1930 to the 1941 and again from 1946 to 1950.<ref name="St. Louis Park historical record" />

==World War II service==
In [[World War II]] Baston again was called into service, this time in the [[North Africa Campaign]] as a colonel in the Marines, where he commanded a battalion that repaired equipment ranging from jeeps to rocket guns for armies in the European and African Theaters.

Baston and Ruby had two children: Fred, who also served in World War II and in the [[Korean War]], and a daughter, Priscilla.<ref name="St. Louis Park historical record" />

==Later life==
Baston resumed his automotive career after the war. The 1947 St. Louis Park City directory listed his Baston-Barington Chevrolet Co. at 2612 Lyndale Avenue. He remained active in the community and was appointed as General Chairman of the 1948 [[Minneapolis Aquatennial]].  Baston moved to [[St. Cloud, Minnesota|St. Cloud]] later in life and opened a dealership there.<ref name="St. Louis Park historical record" />

In 1954, he was inducted into the [[College Football Hall of Fame]].<ref name="Signet, January 1955" />  Baston died in St. Cloud on November 15, 1979, and is buried at [[Lakewood Cemetery]] in Minneapolis.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cfbhof|id=1316|name=Bert Baston}}
* {{Find a Grave}}

{{Navboxes
| title = Bert Baston—championships, awards, and honors
| list1 =
{{1934 Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox}}{{1935 Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox}}
{{1936 Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox}}
{{1940 Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox}}
{{1941 Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox}}
{{1915 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{1916 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baston, Bert}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:American football ends]]
[[Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches]]
[[Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers football players]]
[[Category:All-American college football players]]
[[Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps colonels]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States)]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from St. Louis Park, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Hennepin County, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Cleveland Tigers (NFL) players]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Minnesota]]