A basketball standout at Notre Dame High School under 2017 Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame coach Mike Durr, Sean Burton broke the three-point school record and led the Jugglers to two Section 3 titles.  In the 2004-2005, his senior season, Burton the Tri-Valley League named him its Player of the Year.   Burton earned all-state accolades and was named the team’s MVP his senior season. 

Widely considered the greatest player to suit up in an Ithaca basketball uniform, Burton was the only three-time All-American in the program’s 90-year history. He led Ithaca in scoring three years in a row, setting the record for the school with 598 points his senior season, and earned several honors while sporting a Bombers uniform.  

Burton was a three-time All-Empire 8 selection, a two-time Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year, and a three-time All-Conference First Team selection, and twice was an All-East Region honoree by D3hoops.com and the NABC.  In 2008-09, Burton was the D3hoops.com and NABC East Region Player of the Year. 

He ranks as Ithaca College’s leader in free throw percentage (90%), second in career assists (556) and assists per game (5.5), and third in career points (1,736), scoring average (17.0) and career three-pointers (261).  Burton also ranks fifth in career steals with 163.  Burton also ended his college career as the Empire 8 Conference record holder for points (598) in a season and free throw percentage (91.4%). 

Burton played professional basketball for two seasons in Iceland for the Snaefell, one of twelve teams in the Express League, the highest level of Iceland’s three professional leagues.  He was a two-time all-star for the team, and during his first year, Burton scored an Icelandic record 55 points in one game, including 16 three-pointers, also a record.  In Burton’s first season, the team won the Express League Championship, and he was Second-Team All-League, First-Team All-Imports, and the Powerade Cup Most Valuable Player.  

Burton served as an assistant coach first with Utica College and then with the Babson College men’s basketball team helping the team to a program-best 29-3 record and 4 NCAA tourney wins in 2014, their best record in school history.  In 2015, Burton worked as an assistant under his former Ithaca coach Jim Mullins.  In four seasons, Ithaca won 55 games and appeared in two Liberty League Championships.  

Burton is still active in teaching and playing basketball.  He was a member of the inaugural edition of the Herkimer Originals’ basketball team in the American Basketball Association where he was a teammate with fellow 2022 GUSHOF inductee Steve Babiarz. 

In 2019, the Ithaca Hall of Fame inducted Burton, and in 2022, Notre Dame High School’s Brother More C.F.X. Hall of Fame is set to do the same.