Detroit native Willie Burton, who played in the NBA in the 1990s, is among a small group of contenders being considered by GOP gubernatorial canidate Tudor Dixon as a running mate, the Detroit News reports.
Burton, 54, of Bloomfield Hills, played high school basketball at St. Martin De Porres in Detroit before attending the University of Minnesota. He was drafted by the Miami Heat in 1990 and went on to play for a number of NBA teams, the last being the Charlotte Hornets.
"Mr. Burton is a former NBA athlete, an accomplished state, national, and international program turnaround specialist and a keynote speaker," his Linkedin page says. "He turns failing youth programs into nationally recognized programs."
The News reports:
Burton went on to found Excel U, an evidence-based behavioral change curriculum, according to his LinkedIn page. In May 2020, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed him to the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports. At the time, the governor's office said Burton was a high school athletics program associate for the Detroit Public Schools Community District.
