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Los Alamitos football coach John Barnes isn’t the retiring type

By Robert Morales - LB Press Telegram, 08/19/13, 7:15AM PDT

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Coach John Barnes isn’t the retiring type

LOS ALAMITOS >> How does John Barnes spell relief? With the numbers 3-0-0.

No, this is not a Rolaids commercial. But the way Barnes tells it, he might have needed one to calm the butterflies in his stomach last Oct. 4 at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Barnes, longtime head coach of the Los Alamitos High football team, entered the Sunset League game that night against visiting Marina needing a victory to become just the fourth coach in the history of California football to win 300 games.

It didn’t matter that Marina was looked upon as somewhat of an easy mark. The pressure was heavy.

“Yeah, that game that night was the most uptight, nervous game I’ve spent in years,” said Barnes, a 1966 graduate of St. Anthony High in Long Beach. “And we’re playing a team that, you know, you should handle. But there was just so much play-up for that game. It wasn’t like a championship game where we win or lose. It’s like,‘I have to win.’

“And we got off fast, which kind of took the fun out of it, which was good. But that had so much play-up to it. For me personally, the pressure of that game was bigger than a CIF championship game.”

Lots of folks, including former players, came out for that game, all hopeful No. 300 would be in the offing. It was as the Griffins rolled 46-0.

“Are all these people going to come back another week with T-shirts and and trophies and stuff? Are they going to set up another table, chase this for a month? You know, you start thinking that,” Barnes said, recalling his thoughts ahead of the game. “I’m glad it’s over.”

Interestingly, if her husband of 43 years was feeling the heat, Anita Barnes never saw it. But she’ll never forget the way he looked after the historic win was in the books.

“He looked really happy,” she said. “Everybody came out. It was a celebration. He was happy for the kids, and the kids were so excited. I’m just really proud of him. He did what he loved to do and he’s very good at it, and it’s just amazing.”

Wide receiver/defensive back Dashawn Gordon, about to begin his senior season, was among the players who contributed.

“It was a great feeling because he deserves it, he’s a great coach,” Gordon said. “And it was nice to celebrate it for him, you know?”

The look in his eyes indicated Gordon truly meant what he said. According to longtime assistant coach Barry Sher, there is a lot more to Barnes than his victory total, which now stands at 301 as he enters his 35th year at the helm.

“The wins and all that have been great; we have great kids and coach Barnes does an incredible job,” said Sher, the defensive coordinator who has assisted Barnes for 30 years. “But I think more important than that is for the 30 years I’ve been here he’s treated kids with respect and treated kids the way they should be treated.

“My son’s a ninth-grader here and I can’t wait for him to have coach Barnes as head coach because he’s fair, he cares about the kids and that’s probably more important than we won a lot of games.”

Gordon echoed that sentiment.

“He’s preparing us for college, not like most coaches,” Gordon said. “He’s very hard on us, but at the end of the day he’s a very nice guy.”

They say nice guys finish last. Not in this case. Not only does Barnes have a record of 301-102-10, he has won CIF-Southern Section championships at the Divisions I (2002), II (1992 and 1993) and III (1991) levels. The cherry on top — at least so far — was Barnes’ induction into the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame in June in Fresno.

He’s proud of his successful journey, and he has so many to thank for it.

“I guess it’s like what Anita was saying, I got to do what I wanted to do,” said Barnes, who coached a year at Magnolia before coming to Los Al. “I was really fortunate I found a place like Los Al where I could stay. A lot of times you can’t stay long enough for whatever reason, whether it be the administration changes or someone doesn’t want you or you have to move on.

“We became a one high-school district my second year here and they wanted us to be successful. I’ve had great kids and great coaches. Now that it’s past and we’ve accomplished it, it’s pretty special.”

What many may not know about Barnes is he was a good player himself. After his days at St. Anthony, he played quarterback a year at Long Beach City College, then transferred to Nevada Reno, where he became captain of the team.

As a senior in 1969 Barnes — also the team’s kicker — had two touchdown runs and kicked a game-winning 33-yard field goal with 48 seconds left against Nevada Las Vegas for a 30-28 victory in the first-ever game between the teams which became rivals.

“I became an instant hero,” Barnes said. “For 25 years guys would call me and tell me to tell them about that game. They had the governor there. So I was really blessed to experience a lot of neat things.”

If it sounds like Barnes is speaking in the past tense, forget it. It doesn’t appear he’s retiring any time soon.

“My wife would say, ‘What are you going to do, sit around and be miserable?’ ” Barnes said, with a laugh. “I still like being around the players and the coaches.”

Nothing miserable about that.