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The all-around athlete also gave fans and players on the Craig side of town some not so fond memories.

The second-round pick in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft died Friday night at his home in Phoenix. Burdick was 74.

“Birdie”, as he was known to many of his friends, grew up on Oakhill Avenue near St. William Catholic Church.

Burdick was also a member of the second Janesville Sports Hall of Fame class, voted into the Hall in 1991.

Steve Ellis met him in the neighborhood. They were classmates and teammates as they grew up.

“I never saw the guy get rattled,” Ellis said. “He was tall and thin, but he was wiry and strong.”

Dan Madden was his coach in Babe Ruth baseball and at Parker High School. The team went to the Babe Ruth World Series in Douglas, Arizona in 1966.

Madden recalled a demonstration of Burdick’s talents while the team was taking infield practice during warmups of one of the World Series games. Burdick, who was a standout centerfielder, came up to Madden with a request.

Madden concluded infield warmups by hitting fungoes to the outfielders to throw home. Burdick, who knew there were scouts in the stands realized an opportunity to show off his arm.

“I said, ‘Sure, Kent,’” Madden recalled.

Madden hit a soft fly midway between the infield and the fence.

“He comes in and fires the ball over the grandstand,” Madden said. “He knew what he was doing.

“He certainly had the tools,” Madden said.

Madden also remembered a game just in the tournament to qualify for the World Series in Ohio. Janesville was leading going into the bottom of the seventh, and the opposing team had an imposing home run hitter.

Two runners got on base. The big hitter was coming up.

“He hits the ball in the deepest part of centerfield,” Madden said. “When Kent knew he had a ball, he would start patting his glove.

“He ran to the fence, turned around and started patting his glove,” Madden said. “That put us all at ease.”

Burdick went to Janesville High School for two years. When Janesville built a second high school and split JHS into Parker and Craig, Burdick went to Parker.

Bob Suter was a young coach and teacher at Janesville High and was going to stay there when it became Janesville Craig. There was only one thing that made him consider moving to Parker.

That reason was Kent Burdick.

“I gave it a lot of thought to put in my application to follow him to Parker,” Suter said. “He was definitely one of the most talented kids (in Janesville history) in all three sports.”

In the second Parker-Craig football game at a packed Monterey Stadium, Burdick ran in for the winning touchdown. As he approached the goal line, the player who played running back and safety and kicked and punted, turned around and back-pedaled into the end zone.

Classmate and teammate Gary Gloede was trailing him.

“He turned and waved his finger like ‘Come and get me,’” Gloede said.

Burdick was the American Legion Award winner in the Class of 1969. Gloede finished second.

Burdick, Gloede and Jerry Davis were the 1-2-3 hitters on the Parker baseball team, likely the best top three hitters in Janesville baseball history.

Gloede said the competition between the three of them made them better.

“The guy could do everything,” said Gloede, who lived about an hour away from Burdick during the winter months in Arizona.

When Burdick graduated from Parker High in 1969, the Cincinnati Reds made him a second-round pick in the draft.

Burdick lasted five seasons in the Reds’ organization. That was the start of the Big Red Machine era, which hurt Burdick’s chances.

Several stories about Burdick involve his confidence level.

Jim Kauss, who is now 88, termed it “being cocky.”

When Kauss first started coaching Babe Ruth baseball in Janesville, he took over a team that had the first draft pick. Kauss said another coach recommended that he take Burdick with the first pick.

That coach was Roy Coyle, a legendary name in Janesville baseball.

“I started coaching after the tryouts had been held,” Kauss said. “I didn’t know Roy Coyle from anybody.”

After checking with some other knowledgeable coaches, Kauss picked Burdick No. 1.

“It was an awesome pick,” Kauss said. “He was an awesome ballplayer.

“He was unbelievably self-assured.”

Kauss said one of his Babe Ruth assistants, Jim O’Connor, was a tall, freshman pitcher on the University of Wisconsin baseball team.

After seeing O’Connor throw, Burdick declared that the college freshman could not strike him out.

“O’Connor could throw hard,” Kauss said. “And Burdick was 14.”

So after a few weeks of Burdick claiming O’Connor could not strike him out, Kauss set up the challenge matchup one day after practice.

“Jim could get two strikes on him, but he could not get the third one past him,” Kauss said. “Kent would pop it up or ground out. O’Connor was getting madder and madder.

“After 15 minutes, I had to cut it off,” Kauss said. “I had to stop it or he was going to bean him.”

Madden said Burdick used to carry a comb in one of his baseball socks.

“When there was a lull or timeout in the game, he’d pull out that comb and comb his hair,” Madden said while laughing. “He was a character.”

Gloede said the comb would also fit in his basketball trunks.

“They used to call him ‘Greasehead’ because he would whip the comb out and his hair was real wet and he’d comb it back,” Gloede said.

When Parker first opened during Burdick’s junior year, the Westside school was in an open lot with no practice facilities. The baseball team practiced at Riverside Park.

Gloede remembers going to the plate to hit during practice and seeing Burdick in centerfield.

“He’s eating an ice cream cone,” Gloede said. “They had the concession stand out at Riverside and he talked some girl into going and getting him an ice cream cone.

“I said, ‘Coach, look at Kenny, he’s out there eating an ice cream cone.’ He could get away with it.”

Coaches would be a bit lenient because of his grit and talent.

“He was the best athlete I’ve ever seen,” Ellis said. “If he hadn’t gotten drafted and chose to play baseball, he would have been an unbelievable college football player.”

After leaving baseball, Burdick worked at General Motors from 1975 to 2006.

In 2020, he and his wife, Cindy, moved to Phoenix to escape the cold winters.

At his request, there will be no funeral or visitation.