Armenians

THEIR GROUNDBREAKING CONTRIBUTIONS REFLECT A LEGACY OF INNOVATION THAT CONTINUES TO INSPIRE FUTURE GENERATIONS

John Baronian

Veteran, scholar, and key figure in Tufts athletics

“Mr. Tufts”

Bio


John Baronian was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Genocide survivors. After serving as a sergeant in the US Army during World War II, he attended Tufts University on the GI Bill, graduating in 1950 with a degree in economics. He was a star two-way lineman on the Jumbo football team and one of Tufts’ first four-year lettermen. Now, each year, the top linebacker on the football team receives the Baronian Award.


In 1997, Tufts awarded Baronian an honorary doctorate.


Baronian established the John K. and Margaret G. Baronian Memorial Scholarship Fund at Tufts, in memory of his parents.


He was also a driving force behind the founding in 1969 of the Tufts Jumbo Club, a support association for student-athletes and their coaches. During the 1980s, the Jumbo Club was instrumental in the campaign for a new field house on the Tufts campus, which was named in Baronian’s honor. With $850,000 raised by the club, the Baronian Field House was dedicated in 1985.


Baronian died in 2008, at age 87.

John Baronian