Who is Kirk Barton’s wife? All about former NFL player as he’s charged over fatal car crash

Kirk Barton was involved in a fatal car crash during the early hours of Saturday, June 21, a press release from the City of Dublin revealed.

The former Ohio State lineman was allegedly driving a Ford F150 Raptor pickup truck eastbound on US-33. According to the city’s press release, Barton is suspected of traveling “at a high rate of speed” before the accident happened at 02:56 am ET. According to WSYX, Kirk Barton is facing “one count of aggravated vehicular homicide” after the crash resulted in the death of 24-year-old Ethan Perry.

For the unversed, the ex-Chicago Bears player played for Ohio State University between 2003 and 2007 before moving to the NFL. Kirk is currently married to Kimberly Barton, with whom he shares three kids. The ex-OSU star spoke about his wife during a 2023 podcast with Kerri Croft, revealing that they were married for almost 7 years. When jokingly asked about whether Kim has made him Docile, Kirk told the host,

“Yeah. I would say between having kids getting older kind of that whole thing it kind of should make you more docile. Like I am like I don't go out, I don't golf, I don't belong to a country club, I'm not the real social like I'm generally at home by six at the latest.”

Based on Kirk Barton’s statement and his older social media posts, he tied the knot with Kim in August 2016. For those unaware, Kimberly is an alumnus of Florida State University and currently works as a registered dietician in Columbus, Ohio, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has also been a clinical dietician for the US Department of Veteran Affairs since 2012.

However, according to local media outlets like Massillon, Ohio-based The Independent, Kirk Barton was previously married to Brittany Jordan. They reportedly married in 2009, but it is unclear when they parted ways. According to The Independent, she was also an OSU graduate who was employed at Nationwide Insurance.

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More about Kirk Barton’s football career at OSU and NFL

As mentioned, the Ohio native started his athletic career with OSU. He officially began playing in 2003 and retired as a National Football League pro in 2010 after being a part of multiple off-season and practice squads for different teams. He was also a part of the first-team All-American and first-team All-Big Ten after representing OSU in 2007.

In his 2023 chat with Kerri Croft, he explained his decision to choose Ohio State University for his college football career. Kirk Barton, who was raised by a single mom after his dad passed away, talked about Stanford being his dream school at the time, but he wanted to stay closer to his family. He said,

“I wanted my family to be able to see me play. And again that's something that a lot of kids deal with, but it just kind of depends on if they have the means to fly in every weekend or whatever or versus the opportunity plus Stanford wasn't good at football, you know. So, I mean that was the hard part is like this is back when they stunk.”

Before becoming a Buckeyes legend, he was redshirted in his first season at Ohio State University. In the 2008 Draft, he was picked by the Chicago Bears in the 7th round (247th overall) but was later waived and signed by multiple teams, including the Miami Dolphins, the San Francisco 49ers, the Cincinnati Bengals, and more, per Pro Football Reference.

Eventually, Kirk Barton finished his professional career with one NFL game due to frequent team changes and a string of injuries. He later volunteered at OSU, completed his MBA through night school, and chose to pursue business over coaching for the “quality of life,” according to his 2023 podcast with Kerri Croft 2023.

In the later years, Barton co-founded Buckeye Scoop, a media outlet focused on providing everything related to Ohio State football, including recruitment news, podcasts, scoops, insider forums, and more.

After the news of Kirk’s accident broke out, Buckeye Scoop (@BuckeyeScoop) issued a statement via X,

“We just learned of the devastating news regarding Kirk’s involvement in a fatal incident. We are heartbroken for Ethan Perry and his loved ones. This is a tragedy. At this time, we are gathering information and will have more to say when appropriate.”

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The Dublin accident involving Kirk Barton happened on West Bridge Street

Kirk’s vehicle allegedly collided with a Lexus on West Bridge Street near Franklin Street. Ethan Perry, the other driver who was also reportedly traveling eastbound, died on the scene, while the ex-OSU football player sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken into custody, after being discharged from the hospital.

According to WSYX, court documents alleged that officers observed Kirk Barton to have “glassy, bloodshot eyes and a blank stare.” The station further reported that the ex-football player had slow and slurred speech. Per WSYX, Barton was allegedly unable to answer basic questions related to the collision and the evening.

On a previous occasion in 2018, Kirk reportedly faced charges of felony assault to a deputy. According to The Columbus Dispatch, he has been accused of multiple traffic offenses in the past and will make his court appearance on Monday, June 23.