Bad News: Marvin Barnes Dead at 62

[tommy]

Former Providence College and ABA great Marvin "Bad News" Barnes is dead at the age of 62. Those who are too young to have seen Barnes play missed something special. A truly talented, dominant player, the mercurial Barnes unfortunately dragged himself down with epic drug binges and other criminal activity. But he sure was entertaining. He was a real character, a funny, outlandish guy, perfectly at home in the wild days of the old ABA, but when he managed to show up at the game, on time, and was into it, he was a great, great player. Bob Costas, who was the broadcaster for the Spirits of St. Louis, Barnes' primary professional team, has great memories of him, and terrific stories. Here's a little bit (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198174) of it.

[roywhite]

Former Providence College and ABA great Marvin "Bad News" Barnes is dead at the age of 62. Those who are too young to have seen Barnes play missed something special. A truly talented, dominant player, the mercurial Barnes unfortunately dragged himself down with epic drug binges and other criminal activity. But he sure was entertaining. He was a real character, a funny, outlandish guy, perfectly at home in the wild days of the old ABA, but when he managed to show up at the game, on time, and was into it, he was a great, great player. Bob Costas, who was the broadcaster for the Spirits of St. Louis, Barnes' primary professional team, has great memories of him, and terrific stories. Here's a little bit (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198174) of it.

Sorry to hear that, and thanks for the link, tommy.

There's also a very good 30/30 documentary on those old ABA days.

ESPN 30 FOR 30 FREE SPIRITS TRAILER (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t26z_Y1Q5UI)

[MartyClark]

Former Providence College and ABA great Marvin "Bad News" Barnes is dead at the age of 62. Those who are too young to have seen Barnes play missed something special. A truly talented, dominant player, the mercurial Barnes unfortunately dragged himself down with epic drug binges and other criminal activity. But he sure was entertaining. He was a real character, a funny, outlandish guy, perfectly at home in the wild days of the old ABA, but when he managed to show up at the game, on time, and was into it, he was a great, great player. Bob Costas, who was the broadcaster for the Spirits of St. Louis, Barnes' primary professional team, has great memories of him, and terrific stories. Here's a little bit (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198174) of it.

Interesting character. Didn't he bean one of his team mates with a tire iron?

[Olympic Fan]

Fascinating character ...

In 1972, Barnes teamed with Ernie DiGregorio and Kevin Stacom to lead Providence past Maryland in the East Regionals (Maryland got in because NC State was on probation). Barnes had 19 points and 15 rebounds, but spent the night tormenting Tim McMillen due to the fact that McMillen beat him out for a spot on the '72 US Olympic team. Early in the game, Barnes picked up a technical for delivering a hard and blatant elbow to McMillen's neck while they were waiting for an inbounds play. Afterwards, Barnes said:

“I just wanted to let him know I was still around. I had to rough him up a bit. I didn’t like the way he looked out there. I had to make him uneasy. Then he got nervous.”

A year later, Providence was matched against N.C. State in the East Regional semifinals and Barnes was assigned to guard David Thompson. Thompson scored 40 points as State won easily. Afterwards, some reporters asked Barnes what happened:

"He's David Thompson, man. What did he get -- 40? I'm just happy he didn't get 50."

Barnes figures prominently in the great 30 for 30 documentary about the St. Louis Spirits of the ABA. Later, I remember him late in his career when he joined the Celtics and helped destroy what had been a contending team. That's when Red Auerbach explained his theory of two bad apples. He was talking about the fact that he added Charlie Scott and Scott played well. That made him cocky and he added Barnes. He later explained that he re-learned a lesson that he had once known. You can put one bad apple on a team of good, team-oriented players and they'll force the bad apple to conform. That's what happened with Scott (who at that point in his career was a selfish, paranoid player). But, he explained, when you have two bad apples, they bounce off each other, getting crazier and crazier and destroying the team. When Barnes joined the Celtics, it negated the good influences on Scott.

Sorry to see Barnes go. He was a very good player ... a not-so-good person ... but a fascinating character.