David Gerald Barnes

     Born on September 27, 1951, Gerald Barnes attended the Academy of Richmond County where he played baseball under the Georgia Dugout Hall of Fame coach, A.L. Williams.  After graduating from Richmond in 1969, Barnes attended Carolina Military Academy in Maxton, North Carolina, until a knee injury brought him back to Georgia.  He had a scholarship offer from South Georgia College, but chose Middle Georgia College.  He then attended Augusta College before transferring to Georgia Southern, where he graduated. He said that when he graduated from Richmond, he was asked what he wanted to do with the rest of his life; he said “coaching.” 

 

In 1976, Barnes began what became an over forty-five-year career at West Side High School in Augusta.  During that time, as a member of the physical education faculty, he served as head baseball coach.  His coaching statistics demonstrate his talent as a coach. He reached his 900th career win in February 2019—only the second baseball coach in Georgia to reach that milestone-- when his Westside Patriots defeated his alma mater, ARC.  He won back-to-back state championships in 1987 and 1988 and finished second in the state in 1980 and 2005. He led the program to twenty-two regional titles in spite of usually playing up in classification, and the team finished as runner-up eleven times. He also coached the Georgia Dugout Cub All-Stars twice and Team Georgia in the Sunbelt Classic.  Many of his players went on to college sports and a few played professionally.  Barnes also served as the school’s head football coach from 1997-2008, guiding his teams to a region title and four post-season appearances. By the time he coached his last baseball regular season home game on April 22, 2022, he had coached almost a thousand games. He was a mentor to hundreds of young men in his career.

 

In 2004, Barnes was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Hall of Fame, and in 2008 the school named its baseball field “Gerald Barnes Field.”  The plaque overlooking the field reads: “Perhaps more important, he will be remembered for turning his boys of summer into the men of tomorrow.”  Throughout it all, Barnes remained humble: “I’ve been lucky through the years.  A lot of good kids and a lot of good parents supported us.  If I had to do it again, I’d do it again.”