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Dr. C. Robert "Bob" Barnett is more widely known
to students and alumni as a professor and a longtime member of
the Division of Exercise Science, Sport, and Recreation (ESSR)
in the College of Education and Human Services where he has
served as Chair of ESSR for the past seven years. However, he is
also a researcher of sports and sport history and a well-known,
well-published author.
His recent projects have made him a "Voice for Appalachia." |
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"For those of us who were born in Appalachia or who have spent
significant time here, these mountains speak to us in various and sundry
ways, and the authors who can share their perceptions about a unique and
often poorly understood region of the United States become very special
to us." |
One of Dr. Barnett's
favorite articles, "Friday Night Rites: High School Football in the
Northern Panhandle," was published in West Virginia's
Goldenseal
magazine and gives insight into his youth:
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"High school football, especially the way it's worshipped in some
parts of the country, comes under a lot of criticism these days.
Perhaps I am prejudiced, but I love the game. I come from a big
extended family of rabid Northern Panhandle football fans and was
a high school player myself from 1957 through 1960. Some of my
favorite memories of growing up revolve around Friday nights in
the fall." |
His love of sports from very early years and his ability to glimpse
thoughts and feelings through the
eyes of his family and others in the Appalachian Mountains make him the
ideal person to be the Section Editor for "Sports and Recreation" in the
Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Along with Michele Schiavone, who is
Associate Professor of English at Marshall University and assistant
editor of this section of the encyclopedia, Dr. Barnett is researching
and assisting in creating an historical look at sport in the 13 states
that contain portions of the Appalachian Mountains. The Encyclopedia
of Appalachia is scheduled for publication in the year 2003.
 As publishers search for writers who can give the public a more readable
text that surveys social and cultural trends of the times, Dr. Barnett
is the ideal writer. He has published several articles in Goldenseal,
the Saturday Evening Post, Sports Heritage
Magazine,
Cincinnati Magazine, River Cities Monthly,
and other magazines. His work
has also appeared in the Washington Post. In all Dr. Barnett has
published and/or presented his research in over 200 articles and
research presentations.
A particular
challenge for Dr. Barnett through his work with the Encyclopedia of
Appalachia has been
to show similarities among the many diverse regions that make up the
Appalachian Mountains.
is enthusiastic response to questions about Appalachia shows his love of
the area. His research has led him to find a similarity in the value of
hard, physical, outdoor work among the mountain residents. Even with
diverse ethnic groups, the Appalachian resident values the physical that
translates into a value and love of sports.
From "Friday Night
Rites" :
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"For a long
time I failed to understand what high school football really meant
in those small Panhandle towns so long ago. I thought it was about
winning, and felt bad that we lost so often. But in retrospect, I
see it as a rite of passage, no less primitive and equally as full
of symbolism as that of any tribal culture. Football was a
spectacle, a test, and a ritual played out before the entire
village. For the players the moment remains so vivid because we
were the central focus on those fall Friday nights, standing in
bright lights on the verge of adulthood." |
Dr. Barnett reminds
us that two great heroes of Appalachia are Jerry West and Joe Namath.
Jerry West is a symbol of success at all levels of his life. He shines
before us as the Appalachian
who reached the highest levels of success in sport and then translated
that success into his life
after he retired as a basketball player. Joe Namath is representative of
the successful Appalachian
who covered the entire region of Appalachia as he was born and reared in
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and played his college football in Alabama.
In a new role of
editor, Dr. Barnett finds it particularly satisfying to collaborate with
other writers. It has been his duty to assist in identifying topics and
writers in Appalachia. Thus far, he has 56 topics
and 40 writers that will appear in the "Sports and Recreation" section
of the encyclopedia. He is writing the introduction and other entries
for the section. From his introduction to the section on sports and
recreation, he reminds us:
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"Sports
ability is prized by Appalachians as a modern way to
demonstrate physical performance. Because there are few large
cities, there are few professional teams which compete on a
national basis, and the physical barriers of the mountains have
created an isolation which has increased the interest in local and
regional, rather than national, sports." |
One of the more
fascinating sports outlined in Dr. Barnett's introduction is fighting, a
favorite activity
of the Appalachian frontier. Dr. Barnett tell us that "kicking, biting,
and eye gouging were standard techniques, and participants of this sport
sharpened and hardened their long fingernails to enhance
their ability to remove the eyes from their opponents' sockets. An 1806
fight in the upper Ohio Valley between rough and tumblers from Kentucky
and Virginia involved dropkicks, bear hugs, eye gouging, and lip ripping
until the Kentuckian quit and the Virginia was carried off as the
winner." The section
goes on to describe the history of many favorite activities in
Appalachia including dancing, hunting,
golf, baseball, and football.
Because of his status
as a well-known sports historian, Dr. Barnett was interviewed after the
terrorist attack on New York City by the Baltimore Sun and the
Christian Science Monitor. Both newspapers were interested in how
the sports world had reacted to other violent acts and events in
history. The Baltimore Sun article quoted Dr. Barnett about events at
the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. "Some NFL games were underway
when news of Pearl Harbor reached the mainland. Public address
announcements at some stadiums urged military personnel to report to
base, but the games continued, and the championship was held a few weeks
later."
The Christian
Science Monitor article entitled "When should the games go on?"
contained information from various sources about the sport world
reactions to many historic and serious catastrophes. The article says,
"Another sports historian, Robert Barnett of Marshall University, says
that it may be best to continue events when possible. Doing so can have
a positive, therapeutic effect, he says. 'You continue with events
because it demonstrates a resilience, that life goes on despite the
tragedy,' says Barnett."
The College of
Education and Human Services is proud of the service of Bob Barnett to
ESSR, which was formerly known as Health Physical Education and
Recreation (HPER), but it is equally pleased to focus on the man as
writer and sports historian. His contributions to sports history are
varied and important, and his research has added to the knowledge of
sports and of our region.
Dr. Barnett is married to Lysbeth Barnett, professor at Ashland
Community College where she is Coordinator for Management and
Technology. The two of them collaborate as evaluators for federal grants
through Barnett Ink. They are involved in many educational endeavors in
the community and
have made contributions to the communities of Huntington and
Ashland. Dr. Barnett has several other projects underway including a
series of five biographical essays for the Historical Dictionary of
African-Americans in Sport. One of the essays will focus on Hal
Greer, Marshall University's noted NBA player. He is busy working on
other essays for the Encyclopedia of West Virginia that will be
published in late 2002.
Bob Barnett is indeed
a "Voice for Appalachia." The best way to end this article is to listen
as he speaks again of his youth and the early days that formed his love
of sports:
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"Finally we
[Newell High School football team] took control of our own fate
and began calling our own plays. The coach didn't seem to notice
until the next to the last game in my senior year. Then he
confronted the quarterback in the locker room at halftime and
asked why we had had not run the 'T-2-Ride' play that he sent into
the game. The room grew ominously silent. Mick, the quarterback,
ever a quick thinker, looked levelly at the coach and said, 'Reed
forgot the play while he was running onto the field.' The coach
could relate to that and as a team we let out a sigh of relief." |
Dr. Barnett can be contacted at
304/696-6491 or via e-mail at
barnett@marshall.edu.
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