W. Frank Barton Entrepreneurship Scholarship

It was said that W. Frank Barton epitomized the entrepreneurial spirit. Beginning his career as an auto mechanic, he later founded Barton Distributors in 1952. His paramount business achievement was as co-founder and chair of Rent-A-Center. Although he never attended college, Mr. Barton believed in education and giving back to the community. In 1984, he and his wife, Patsy, a WSU alumna, endowed a fund establishing the W. Frank Barton School of Business, at the time the single largest gift made to a Kansas university. The W. Frank Barton Entrepreneurship Scholarship was created from this endowment. His son, Craig Barton, believes the Barton legacy stems from his father’s ‘ability to spot a market before it developed’ and was central to his business success.