Don Barker, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

The connections in the long gray line of Newport Harbor High

football can sometimes have a sixth sense.

One day, during Junior All-American tryouts, a young and impressionable

Don Barker was cut the first time he tried to play football.

But Al Muniz, a standout guard from the Harbor Class of ’49 and a Junior

All-American coach at the time, noticed a highly dejected Barker and

realized how far attitude goes in this game.

“I was pretty upset about (getting cut). I really wanted to play,” said

Barker, admittedly “kind of chubby” in his early years.

“(Muniz) was able to figure it out, and worked it out for me to get on

the team that year. He has always been a special guy.”

Barker went on to play four years of Junior All-American in the

Newport-Mesa area, then starred at Newport Harbor in the 1970s, becoming

a first-team All-CIF Southern Section Division I selection as a middle

linebacker for Coach Bill Pizzica’s stellar squad in ’77.

(The All-CIF Division I team was comprised of the Big Five, Eastern,

Southern and Coastal conferences, the biggest schools in the section.

That year, Estancia’s Mike Camp, a second-team pick on offense, was the

only other Newport-Mesa District player to be honored in Division I.)

Barker, a captain all four years at Newport Harbor (two on the varsity),

played middle linebacker at UC Davis for four years and helped the Aggies

win conference championships every fall.

“I wasn’t always the biggest player, and definitely wasn’t the fastest,

but I had a pretty big heart,” said Barker, whose inner gifts could not

outweigh the fact that his physique of 5-foot-11 1/2, 220 pounds in

college was not what NFL scouts were looking for.

But Barker, who played with future Jets quarterback Ken O’Brien at UC

Davis, was the team’s co-captain and co-MVP his senior year.

As a prep, Barker was the heart and soul of the Sailors’ defense.

In an era when Newport Harbor played the biggest boys on the Orange

County block, the Tars finished 9-3 in ‘77, lost only to Willie Gittens

and Sunset League champion Fountain Valley in league, and reached the CIF

Big Five Conference semifinals, losing to Angelus League champion and

third-seeded St. Paul in early December.

A first-team All-Sunset League choice, first-team All-Orange Coast area

pick and third-team All-Orange County selection, Barker set a school

record for tackles in a season (195) that year. But his most memorable

play was a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown against Huntington

Beach, a 23-6 Tar victory in Week 7.

Barker, who also led the team in tackles his junior year with 118,

stepped in front of Huntington Beach quarterback Marco Pagnanelli’s pass

in the flat that night and barely made it to the end zone, leaking oil

and blowing gaskets along the way.

“I was tripping and fumbling along the way, but somehow I ran it back all

the way for a touchdown,” Barker said. “It’s one of those plays that will

always stick in your mind.”

Barker, who added that he couldn’t remember ever losing to Corona del Mar

-- “I know that stirs things up across the Back Bay,” he said -- will

never forget playing against his cousin, St. Paul quarterback Craig

Johnston, in the ’77 semifinals. He also faced his cousin in college,

when the latter played at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Even though Barker lives in San Jose and works in the Silicon Valley, he

stays in close touch with a dozen or so members from the ’77 Harbor team,

including Harry Massingill, his best friend.

“More than any play, that’s what I look back on most fondly, my friends

and teammates,” said Barker, who helped launch Cypress Human Resources, a

staffing firm of computer experts and managers for high-tech companies in

the Silicon Valley.

“We’re right in the middle of (the high-tech boom in the valley), and,

right now, we’re hopping,” said Barker, who serves as vice president of

sales and marketing for the staffing company.

Barker, who loves the Bay area, has returned to the gridiron this year

after several years away from it, volunteering as defensive coordinator

of his son’s Pee Wee Division football team.

“I always thought it would be fun, but I’d always been kind of busy and

never made time for (coaching),” he said.

Barker, also the captain of the wrestling team at Newport Harbor and a

shot putter and discus thrower on Coach Bob Hailey’s track and field

team, is the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.

Barker and his wife, Alison, a physical therapist and also a UC Davis

graduate, have two boys -- Brennan, 11, and Kellan, 9.