Dave Barney

David Ellsworth Barney (born January 5, 1932) is an American educator and swimming coach. In 1967, he was named head of the senior school at Albuquerque Academy, where he coached the track and field team, and taught sixth-grade English. He established a swimming program for girls at the academy in 1975, then coached both the girls and boys in swimming from 1982 until his retirement in 2021. He won 42 state championships for the academy—21 with the boys and 21 with the girls—and coached more than 400 students named All-Americans in either athletics and academics. Prior working at the academy, Barney began coaching sports and teaching at Cranbrook School in 1960, and was the aquatic sports director at the Albuquerque Country Club.

Alongside his older twin brother Bob, Barney played multiple varsity sports at University of New Mexico (UNM), and served in the United States Air Force during the Korean conflict. He was named New Mexico State swim coach of the year in 28 seasons, and was the inaugural girls swimming coach of the year chosen by the National Federation of State High School Associations in 1995. He has been inducted into multiple halls of fame, including the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame, the UNM Athletic Hall of Honor, and the National High School Hall of Fame.

Early life and education David Ellsworth Barney was born on January 5, 1932, in Winthrop, Massachusetts. (Multiple sources report Bob Barney and Dave Barney as twin brothers, although one source mistakenly lists Dave and Peter as twins, instead of Bob and Dave.) His mother Blanche Geraldine Barney, was a descendant from the youngest passenger of the 1620 voyage by the Mayflower, and a soldier who served in the American Revolutionary War. As a youth, Barney aspired to become a boxer, the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, or play gridiron football as a running back. While living in Mississippi, he and Bob reached the state tennis doubles semifinals and first became involved in swimming and water polo while living in Panama. (Krider (2014) wrote, "At one time or another they competed in football, baseball, hockey, softball, boxing and tennis.) He and Peter, with no experience, once made the state tennis doubles semifinals in Mississippi.", and "His first taste of swimming came during his senior year in Panama, when tried water polo for eight weeks."

Barney enrolled at University of New Mexico (UNM) to play football for the New Mexico Lobos in 1950. Barney and his brother Bob participated in intramural sports, won multiple swimming events, and were offered a scholarship for books and tuition to join the Lobos swimming team in 1957. Lobos' coach Johnny Williams, named the Barney twins lettermen in swimming in 1958.

Coaching and teaching career Barney began his coaching career in 1960. For six years, he taught at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, When Barney announced his upcoming retirement, he had won 41 state championships with Albuquerque Academy—21 with the boys and 20 with the girls. He had coached more than 400 students named All-Americans in either athletics and academics, and won more than 260 individual events and relays at the state championships. His teams won 1,236 swim competitions, and failed to finish in first place at only 77 competitions.

Honors and awards The New Mexico High School Coaches Association named Barney a coach of the year for swimming and diving in 1990, 1995, and 2009. He has been named New Mexico State swim coach of the year in 28 seasons, and was the inaugural girls swimming coach of the year chosen by the National Federation of State High School Associations in 1995.

Barney has been inducted into multiple halls of fame, including the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, the UNM Athletic Hall of Honor in 2000, and the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2022, he was inducted into the Albuquerque Academy Sports Hall of Fame.

Personal life Barney and his brothers served in the military, before careers in coaching and teaching. His brother Bob also served in the USAF during the Korean conflict, and later became a professor of sports history at University of Western Ontario. Their younger brother Peter served in the United States Navy, before working at Albuquerque Academy. Barney and his brother Bob were baseball teammates in university, Barney played water polo for the Los Federales team in the early 1960s, which included his brother Peter as a teammate, and his brother Bob as the coach. Los Federales won a fourth consecutive Amateur Athletic Union state water polo championship for New Mexico in 1964.

During university, Barney married Jeanne, and had children as of 1967. He also worked part-time delivering 500 newspapers each morning, and delivered mail during Christmas holidays. He listens to classical music, has taught sailing classes in the summer, and owns a Herreshoff 12½ keelboat. In his spare time, he is a poet, essayist and memoirist. He and his brother Bob have toured giving lectures on sports history, including the development of water polo, and history of the Boston Red Sox.