Mr. Burton has the frame of an athlete gone to seed, still muscular but with a gut. He is bald on top but has a horseshoe of red hair, along with a red mustache. His character art shows him as having chest hair and hairy armpits. normally wears a white tank top and blue gym shorts with white trim, and a navy blue track suit with white trim in the winter.

Mr. Burton wanted to play professional American Football, but no one drafted him and so he turned to teaching at Bullworth.