The Golden State Valkyries star Veronica Burton has a prized possession in the collection of their family pictures. A picture in her home shows an 11-year-old Veronica drawing up a play while her teammates closely watch. You only have to go two steps back to trace the WNBA star’s preternatural ability. She comes from a family of athletes, starting with her grandfather, Ron Burton, a College Football Hall of Famer and a former player for the New England Patriots.

Earlier this month, Northwestern honored Ron Burton with a mural at Ryan Field after the stadium’s reconstruction. The Valkyries star already had her phone flooded with pictures of the mural, but she had a wholesome reaction when she was finally asked about it.

“It means a lot. I can’t wait to get out there. To know that he is being remembered and honored there means so much not only to me but to my entire family,” Burton said ahead of the Valkyries’ 2026 WNBA Finals Game 1 against the Atlanta Dream, per Front Office Sports’ Colin Salao. 

Ron Burton has his name recorded in the history books of Northwestern. Playing halfback for Northwestern, Burton set a program record for most points in a season (76). He also set records for career touchdowns (21) and points (130). Burton made the All-Big Ten team in 1958-59 and All-America in 1959.

The legend of Ron Burton had attracted many eyes, and he eventually became a coveted prospect. He was the Boston Patriots’ top choice in the AFL.

Veronica is a generation apart from her grandfather, but she still carries his legacy. She has taken his name and wears his Patriots number 22 on her Valkyries jersey. His shadow is too big, but Veronica has carved out her own story, just like Ron would have wanted.

Burton’s parents were also high-level athletes. Her father, Steve Burton, followed in his father’s footsteps and played as a quarterback at Northwestern, and her mother, Ginni (Vath) Burton, was also on the swimming team at Northwestern. But when Veronica grew up, she wanted to carve her own path, getting away from the shadows of her lineage.

Sadly, the Valkyries’ star didn’t receive many top basketball offers. Upon her parents’ insistence, Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown came to watch Burton play. He was impressed and decided to recruit her. But McKeown had an important question for her. Being the third-generation player in her family, what would be her “legacy?”

Veronica Burton has carved out her own storyline in the WNBA

Veronica Burton’s family tree is filled with athletes. Aside from her grandfather and parents, her three uncles and three siblings were also college athletes. She is the youngest of her siblings. Two of her elder sisters, Kendall and Kayla, played college basketball at Villanova and Lehigh, respectively. Her brother, Austin, who is just two years older than her, played QB for Purdue and UCLA.

Burton was closest to her brother and played almost all sports with him. He was one of the reasons that Burton said she developed a disruptive defense. 

“I just played every single sport with him,” Veronica said, per the San Francisco Chronicle. “I also watched a ton of film growing up, so a feel for the game also allows me to kind of be in the right place at the right time.”

However, the Valkyries star gets her defiant attitude from her grandfather. She doesn’t just have her grandfather’s name and wear his number.

Ron Burton was born in 1936 in a poor neighborhood in Ohio. He was hit by adversity at an early age when he lost his mother at age 12. He started living with his grandmother and started trying out for football. Ron was nicknamed “Nothing” because coaches told him that he had no talent. 

However, Ron found hope in a coach’s conditional advice: if he woke up early in the morning and ran for a few miles, he might have a chance. The Northwestern legend did that, and years later, he was in the AFL.

Veronica is cut out of the same clothes. Like her grandfather, she also knows how to answer her doubters. After being selected in the first round of the 2022 draft, Burton’s WNBA career failed to pick up. She averaged no more than 3.1 points in a season for her first three years.

Then came the turning point. The Valkyries selected her from the Connecticut Sun in the 2024 WNBA Expansion Draft. In 2025, she averaged 11.9 points and won the WNBA’s Most Improved Player Award, and now she is ready to play in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals as one of her team’s leading players in front of 18,000 fans at Chase Center, a scene his grandfather would not have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Ron Burton would have been proud not because Veronica carried forward the family’s legacy, but because she carved out her own path, on her own terms.