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THE MONDAY PROFILE
By Eric Gilmore
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Mon, Aug. 07, 2006
SAN PABLO - Richmond's Benny Barnes spotted the bus that summer day in 1972 after it arrived at California Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks.
Barnes was a rookie free agent cornerback out of Stanford, one of over 100 long shots who had reported earlier to the Dallas Cowboys' training camp.
Soon, veterans from the reigning Super Bowl champion Cowboys arrived.
Barnes watched as quarterback Roger Staubach walked off the bus. He saw defensive tackle Bob Lilly, wide receiver Bob Hayes and countless stars he had seen beat Miami in Super Bowl VI that January.
"I thought that was going to be my best summer job ever," Barnes said last week from his office at Contra Costa College, where he's a full-time athletic equipment manager and helps coach the Comets' football special teams.
"You walk into camp in awe. Here's the world champions. You know them all."
Barnes had been a starter at Stanford for two years and was part of the team that won back-to-back Rose Bowls, beating Ohio State and Michigan. But he wasn't chosen in the 1972 NFL draft, and he expected to get cut during camp.
Barnes assumed he would practice with NFL royalty for a few weeks, earn a few hundred dollars then return to the Bay Area and to a job he had lined up with PG&E.
So much for assumptions.
Barnes made the Cowboys as a rookie and played 11 seasons for Dallas under legendary coach Tom Landry. He played in three Super Bowls, winning one, and eight NFC championship games.
Now 55, Barnes spends his work days at a cramped office and equipment room adjacent to the men's locker room at CCC, where he went to school for two years after graduating from Kennedy High School.
You couldn't get much farther away from the bright lights of Texas Stadium and life in the NFL. But Barnes has found his bliss in the past 11 years, doing work most former NFL stars probably couldn't wrap their egos around.
"Benny is just a tremendous human being," said former CCC athletic director Tom Kinnard. "He's so humble, it embarrasses you.
"He loves this area. He's doing it because he's giving back. He's down there working as a coach and equipment manager. He's the real foundation holding that program together."
Kinnard coached Barnes at Kennedy and hired him as his college's equipment manager.
"I still feel a very big sense of pride in this job," Barnes said. "It's a lot more than buying equipment and fitting kids with equipment."
Barnes also organizes the athletic department's motor pool and travel plans. He sets up gyms and fields "to perfection" for home games.
Those are some of his official duties. Unofficially, he's a career counselor, confidant and mentor who just happens to own a Super Bowl ring.
Instead of a Cowboys playbook, Barnes totes "Profiles of American Colleges," a reference book he uses to encourage players to continue their education and athletic careers at four-year schools.
"That's what we're here for," Barnes said. "That's what everybody's trying to get out of here for, to get to that next level. So we try to help them as much as possible with that."
His job at CCC has been a labor of love, but it has also been a way for Barnes to make ends meet.
Barnes played in the NFL before the era of free agency and seven-figure contracts.
His first Cowboys contract was for $16,500 with a $500 signing bonus.
Barnes' final contract in 1982 was for $125,000 -- less than the minimum salary for NFL rookies today.
"I've been working ever since I quit," Barnes said.
After retiring from the NFL, Barnes went into business with Cowboys teammates Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Preston Pearson and Butch Johnson.
Their biggest venture was in fast food. They eventually owned 10 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises. Unfortunately for Barnes and his partners, all but two of those franchises were in West Texas oil towns such as Midland and Odessa. In the late '80s, the oil business "bottomed out" and the local economies went with it.
"If you've ever driven through West Texas, the only thing moving is tumbleweed and oil wells," Barnes said. "We just watched those places die."
Barnes and his ex-teammates sold their businesses in 1990. In 1991, Barnes and his family returned to Richmond. He accepted a job as "marketing director" for a janitorial company that had contracts with many of the local military bases.
"I don't want to say that every time I get with a company things start going wrong, but that's when the military bases started closing," Barnes said.
Barnes had been moonlighting as an assistant football coach at CCC since returning to the Bay Area. So when he began job hunting again in the mid-1990s, he decided it would be "great" to work full-time at the college.
"Being here part-time really kind of triggered something in me," Barnes said. "Being on campus was like being back home. I had one of the greatest experiences being here as far as being directed on the right path."
So when longtime equipment manager J.D. Banks retired, Barnes replaced him.
"Even though (Banks) was basically just an equipment guy, he probably counseled and talked to kids more than the teachers and the counselors," Barnes said.
"I looked at that and said, 'I'd like to do something like that, to be involved with the kids, not teaching but having access to them and trying to help them experience what I did, being able to get out of here and go to a place like Stanford.'"
After graduating from CCC, Barnes had his choice of numerous colleges that were recruiting him. He picked Stanford over UC Berkeley, Washington, Washington State and Colorado, among others.
"He was really a good, solid guy, the kind of guy you like to take home and call your own," said former Stanford coach John Ralston. "The all-time best."
"He was just an exceptional player, well-liked by everybody."
Barnes returned to Stanford after his rookie NFL season to pass the final five units he needed to graduate with a history degree.
"The two biggest surprises of my life were going to Stanford and making the Cowboys," Barnes said. "I was a student, but I didn't consider myself a Stanford student. To be tossed into that mix, I just had a lot to prove."
During his NFL career, Barnes was often overshadowed by more decorated teammates and coaches. Staubach, Lilly, Landry, Tony Dorsett, Randy White and Mel Renfro are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Barnes, though, intercepted a pass during Dallas' 27-10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. And he was at the center of one of the most controversial penalties in Super Bowl history.
Early in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XIII against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Barnes was flagged for pass interference at the Dallas 23-yard line. That call set up a key touchdown in the Steelers' 35-31 win.
Barnes and Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann got their feet tangled up on the play and landed on the ground. To many observers, a flag was unwarranted.
"When I see it on TV, I don't know if it's my claim to fame or claim to shame," Barnes said.
"After a while you just have to count your blessings and say, 'Hey, I've got a lot more to be thankful for than that play.'"
Reach Eric Gilmore at egilmorecctimes.
BIOGRAPHY
• WHO: Benny Barnes
• AGE: 55
• RESIDENCE: Richmond
• CLAIMS TO FAME: Played defensive back for the Dallas Cowboys from 1972-82. Appeared in three Super Bowls, winning one. Was a member of Stanford's victorious Rose Bowl teams after the 1970 and 1971 seasons. Member of Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.
• OCCUPATION: Athletic equipment manager and assistant football coach at Contra Costa College.
• EDUCATION: Graduate of Richmond's Kennedy High School, Contra Costa College and Stanford.
• PERSONAL: Married with three sons and one daughter.
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© 2006 ContraCostaTimes and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
contracostatimes
No-Kill Denver Shelter Provides Saves For More Than 40 Kittens
TheDenverChannel, Colorado - August 10, 2006
Maxfund Takes Felines From Overcrowded Shelter
DENVER -- More than 40 kittens and cats from Wyoming have been saved by the Maxfund, a Denver no-kill animal shelter.
The cats and kittens arrived at Maxfund late Thursday afternoon from a Cheyenne shelter that was faced with a serious overcrowding issue. Rather than euthanize the cats and kittens, Maxfund stepped in to help. Now, the kitten and cats need homes of their own.
The kittens range in ages from 10 days old to 6 months old. The infant kittens are still being fed by their mothers.
In a plea to their volunteers, Maxfund was able to find more than 20 foster families willing to look after the kittens until they are adopted.
The kittens are now available for adoption.
Maxfund said for a limited time, it is reducing its cat adoption fee to $50. The fee includes all vaccinations except rabies, spaying or neutering, and microchipping.
For more information on the Maxfund no-kill shelter or to learn how to adopt a cat or kitten, visit maxfund.
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