Ernie Barnes
Ernest Eugene Barnes Jr. was an American artist, well known for his unique style of elongated characters and movement. He was also a professional football player, actor and author.
Early life
Childhood
Ernest Barnes Jr. was born during the Jim Crow era in "the bottom" community of Durham, North Carolina, near the Hayti District of the city. He had a younger brother named James, as well as a half-brother, Benjamin B. Rogers Jr.. His father, Ernest E. Barnes Sr., worked as a shipping clerk for Liggett Myers Tobacco Company. His mother, Fannie Mae Geer, oversaw the household staff for a prominent Durham attorney and local Board of Education member, Frank L. Fuller Jr.On days when Fannie allowed "June" to accompany her to work, Mr. Fuller encouraged him to peruse the art books and listen to classical music. The young Ernest was intrigued and captivated by the works of master artists. By the time Barnes entered the first grade, he was familiar with the works of such masters as Toulouse-Lautrec, Delacroix, Rubens and Michelangelo. When he entered junior high school, he could appreciate, as well as decode, many of the cherished masterpieces within the walls of mainstream museums – although it would be many more years before he was allowed entrance because of segregation.
A self-described chubby and unathletic child, Barnes was taunted and bullied by classmates. He continually sought refuge in his sketchbooks, finding the less-traveled parts of campus away from other students. One day Ernest was drawing in his notebook in a quiet area of the school. He was discovered hiding there by the masonry teacher, Tommy Tucker, who was also the weightlifting coach and a former athlete. He was intrigued with Barnes's drawings, so he asked the aspiring artist about his grades and goals. Tucker shared his own experience of how bodybuilding improved his strength and outlook on life. That one encounter would begin Barnes's discipline and dedication that would permeate his life. In his senior year at Hillside High School, Barnes became the captain of the football team and state champion in the shot put.
College education
Barnes attended racially segregated schools. In 1956 he graduated from Hillside High School with 26 athletic scholarship offers. Segregation prevented him from attending nearby Duke University or the University of North Carolina. His mother promised him a car if he lived at home so he attended the all-Black North Carolina College at Durham. At North Carolina College he majored in art on a full athletic scholarship. His track coach was Dr. Leroy T. Walker. Barnes played the football positions of tackle and center at NCC.At age 18, on a college art class field trip to the newly desegregated North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, Barnes inquired where he could find "paintings by Negro artists". The docent responded, "Your people don't express themselves that way". 23 years later, in 1979, when Barnes returned to the museum for a solo exhibition, North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt attended.
In 1990, Barnes was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by North Carolina Central University.
In 1999, Barnes was bestowed "The University Award", the highest honor by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
Professional football
Baltimore Colts (1959–60)
In December 1959 Barnes was drafted in the tenth round by the then-World Champion Baltimore Colts. He was originally selected in the eighth round by the Washington Redskins, who renounced the pick minutes after discovering he was a Negro.Titans of New York (1960)
Barnes was the last cut of the Colts' training camp. After Baltimore released Barnes, the newly formed Titans of New York immediately signed him because the team had first option on any player released within the league.Barnes loathed being on the Titans. He said, " was a circus of ineptitude. The equipment was poor, the coaches not as knowledgeable as the ones in Baltimore. We were like a group of guys in the neighborhood who said let's pretend we're pros."
After their seventh game on October 9, 1960, at Jeppesen Stadium, his teammate Howard Glenn died. Barnes asked for his release two days later. The cause of Glenn's death was reported as a broken neck. However, Barnes and other teammates have long attributed it to heatstroke. In a later interview, Barnes said, "They never really said what he died of. Sammy Baugh said he'd broken his neck in a game the Sunday before. But how could that be? How could he have hit in practice all week with a broken neck? What he died of, I think, was more like heat exhaustion. I told them I didn't want to play on a team like this."
San Diego Chargers (1960–1962)
Barnes decided to accept a previous offer from Coach Al Davis at the Los Angeles Chargers. Barnes joined their team at mid-season as a member of their taxi squad. The following season in 1961 the team moved to San Diego. It was there Barnes met teammate Jack Kemp, and the two men would share a very close lifelong friendship.During the off-seasons with the Chargers, Barnes was program director at San Diego's Southeast YMCA working with parolees from the California Youth Authority. He also worked as the sports editor for The Voice, a local San Diego newspaper, writing a weekly column called "A Matter of Sports."
Barnes also illustrated several articles for San Diego Magazine during the off-seasons in 1962 and 1963.
Barnes's first television interview as a professional football player and artist was in 1962 on The Regis Philbin Show on KGTV in San Diego. It was Philbin's first talk show. They would see each other again 45 years later when Philbin attended the tribute to Barnes in New York City.
Denver Broncos (1963–64)
Midway through Barnes's second season with the Chargers, he was cut after a series of injuries. He was then signed to the Denver Broncos.Barnes was often fined by Denver Coach Jack Faulkner when caught sketching during team meetings. One of the sketches that he was fined $100 for sold years later for $1000.
Many times during breaks, Barnes would run off the field onto the sideline to give his offensive line coach Red Miller the scraps of paper of his sketches and notes.
"During a timeout you've got nothing to do – you're not talking – you're just trying to breathe, mostly. Nothing to take out that little pencil and write down what you saw. The shape of the linemen. The body language a defensive lineman would occupy ... his posture ... What I see when you pull. The reaction of the defense to your movement. The awareness of the lines within the movement, the pattern within the lines, the rhythm of movement. A couple of notes to me would denote an action ... an image that I could instantly recreate in my mind. Some of those notes have been made into paintings. Quite a few, really."
Image:ernie barnes no 62 denver broncos.jpg|thumb|1963–64 Denver Broncos, Offensive guard, 6' 3" 253 lbs. Courtesy of the Ernie Barnes Family Trust.
On Barnes's 1964 Denver Broncos Topps football card he is shown wearing jersey #55 although he never played in that number. His jersey was #62.
Barnes was called "Big Rembrandt" by his Denver teammates. Coincidentally, Barnes and Rembrandt share the same birthday.
Canadian Football League
In 1965, after his second season with the Broncos, Barnes signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Canada. In the final quarter of their last exhibition game, Barnes fractured his right foot, effectively ending his professional football career.Retirement
In spite of references on Barnes' website implying that he played only in the NFL, he was never on an active roster in that league. His entire professional football experience was in the American Football League and the CFL. Shortly after his final football game, Barnes went to the 1965 American Football League owners meeting in Houston in hopes of becoming the league's official artist. There he was introduced to New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin, who was intrigued by Barnes and his art. He paid for Barnes to bring his paintings to New York City. Later they met at a gallery and unbeknownst to Barnes, three art critics were there to evaluate his paintings. They told Werblin that Barnes was "the most expressive painter of sports since George Bellows."In what was one of the most unusual positions in the AFL, Werblin retained Barnes as a salaried player, but positioned him in front of the canvas, rather than on the football field. Werblin told Barnes, "You have more value to the country as an artist than as a football player."
Barnes's November 1966 debut solo exhibition, hosted by Werblin at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City, was critically acclaimed and all the paintings sold.
In 1971, Barnes wrote a series of essays in the Gridiron newspaper titled "I Hate the Game I Love". These articles became the beginning manuscript of his autobiography, later-published in 1995 titled From Pads to Palette which chronicles his transition from professional football to his art career.
In 1993, Barnes was selected to the "Black College Football 100th Year All-Time Team" by the Sheridan Broadcasting Network.
Artwork
Barnes credits his college art instructor Ed Wilson for laying the foundation for his development as an artist. Wilson was a sculptor who instructed Barnes to paint from his own life experiences. "He made me conscious of the fact that the artist who is useful to America is one who studies his own life and records it through the medium of art, manners and customs of his own experiences."All his life, Barnes was ambivalent about his football experience. In interviews and in personal appearances, Barnes said he hated the violence and the physical torment of the sport. However, his years as an athlete gave him unique, in-depth observations. " told me to pay attention to what my body felt like in movement. Within that elongation, there's a feeling. And attitude and expression. I hate to think had I not played sports what my work would look like."
Barnes sold his first painting "Slow Dance" at age 21 in 1959 for $90 to Boston Celtic Sam Jones. It was subsequently lost in a fire at Jones' home.
Numerous artists have been influenced by Barnes's art and unique style. Accordingly, several copyright infringement lawsuits have been settled and are currently pending.