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Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

Clemson Municipal Judge Gary Barnes, above, was one of 20 members of the Atlanta Falcons inaugural team from 1966 to be honored at halftime of a home contest versus the Carolina Panthers last month. Barnes, a wide receiver from Clemson University who also played with the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears, was the first player to sign a contract with the Falcons and scored the first touchdown in team history.

CLEMSON — During halftime of its game versus Carolina last month, the Atlanta Falcons honored 20 members of its inaugural 1966 team and Clemson Municipal Judge Gary Barnes was among that distinct class recognized at the Georgia Dome.

But Barnes, a wide receiver who played under the legendary Frank Howard during his Clemson University years and who was inducted in the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005, is permanently linked to the Falcons in other ways as well. He was the first football player signed by the franchise and caught the first touchdown pass — a 53-yarder from quarterback Randy Johnson — in team history.

Most importantly, though, were friendships cultivated with teammates including Tommy Nobis — a middle linebacker from the University of Texas — who was the team’s first draft choice.

“He was one of the greatest football players to ever play the game,” Barnes said. “The fact he is not in the NFL Hall of Fame is a travesty. If he had played with a good football team, he would have been in a long time ago.”

Packers and Bears

When Barnes joined the Falcons in the mid-1960s, he was winding down an NFL career that began in 1962 as a third-round pick (41st overall) of the Green Bay Packers. While some players go their entire career never having been part of a championship team, Barnes reached that goal his first season as a member of the Packers’ 1962 title team. The Packers, coached by Vince Lombardi, defeated the New York Giants 16-7 at Yankee Stadium five years prior to the first-ever Super Bowl.

Not only did Barnes play for Lombardi, he also played for Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys in 1963 and George Halas and the Chicago Bears in 1964. To his knowledge, he is the only player in the history of the NFL to play for the three legendary head coaches.

But Barnes said it was Lombardi’s ability to motivate that stood out above all coaches.

“He would say, ‘Gentleman, you’re the greatest football team that has ever been assembled in the history of the NFL’ and would say it in a way you would believe,” Barnes said. “One of our guys, Bill Forrester, a linebacker, got so excited that he jumped up and hit his head on his locker.”

TO Atlanta

In 1965, the NFL awarded an expansion franchise to the Atlanta Falcons, and Barnes inquired through a friend about an opportunity to meet the Smith family who owned the team. From there, Barnes was referred to Gene Cronin, the team’s personnel director, who offered him a contract.

Barnes was asked to play for a semi-pro team in Huntsville, Ala., since the Falcons were still a year away from beginning play. Barnes did just that and the Falcons primarily paid his salary for that year.

At the end of the first season, Barnes was inexplicably placed on waivers. The next spring, he received a call from the Falcons’ general manager saying the team wished to exercise the option on his 1967 contract.

“I said ‘I don’t know how you did that since I don’t have a contract,’” Barnes said. “I told him that after I was placed on waivers, the team had 48 hours to sign me to next year’s contract or release or trade me. That meant I was a free agent.”

Barnes, who needed one more year to qualify for his NFL pension, then began talking to New Orleans Saints head coach Tom Fears, a former teammate, about joining the franchise that entered the league the same year as the Falcons. After Falcons management then asked Barnes what it would take for him to return in 1967, Barnes said a large raise.

Management balked initially, but once Falcons head coach Norb Hecker confirmed that Barnes was a free agent rather than having an option year, the team signed Barnes to a one-year, no-cut contract complete with a $5,000 raise.

Although Barnes was able to reach the five years necessary for securing his NFL pension, his stay in the league ended after that season. Barnes was cut during training camp in 1968 and Hecker was fired shortly thereafter. Although he had an opportunity to sign with the Minnesota Vikings or the Miami Dolphins, Barnes opted to retire from the game instead.

“I said ‘Guys, I’m 30 years old, will never be in the Hall of Fame and it’s time to move on with the rest of my life,’” Barnes said. “I put my shoes over my shoulder and walked away.”

After football

Though his professional football career had ended, Barnes began a new career in the business world. After relocating to Clemson in the early 1970s, the textile operation he owned began to suffer due to sky-high interest rates and Barnes eventually became an investment adviser.

In 1986, Barnes entered his current profession after then-Clemson City Council member Gaston Gage contacted him about becoming the city’s first full-time judge. After being informed that he did not have to be an attorney to become a summary court judge, Barnes accepted and underwent training that continues to this day.

Although he played in an era where salaries were nowhere near what today’s NFL players make, Barnes expresses no ill will. However, he holds no sympathy either.

“They don’t seem to have sympathy for the older players, and that’s evidenced in the contributions they (NFLPA) make (to the pension plan),” Barnes said.

Barnes also said today’s NFL game has become more of a production and that the theatrics involved may impact the concentration level of the players at times.

“Jerry Glanville (the former Falcons head coach of the early 1990s) had several of us serve as honorary captains before a game and before we went into the locker room, he said, ‘Get ready, you’re never going to believe this,” Barnes said. “When we went inside, I had never heard such loud music with speakers blaring. When I played, we had guys sitting in the locker room wearing T-shirts, not making any noise.

“Coach Glanville then told us. ‘The game’s sure changed a lot, boys.”