Along with Rod Woodson, Johnny Bright and Bob Cowan, Barnes has to be among the most-versatile athletes to ever come out of Fort Wayne. The Wayne graduate was all-Summit Athletic Conference in football, basketball and baseball, becoming the first athlete to earn all-city honors in three sports. Then he played basketball for four years and baseball for one at Purdue before deciding to go a fifth year to try football. He was good enough to start, making 32 tackles and getting drafted by the Detroit Lions where he was a dominant player on special teams.