A “Basketball Brother” that was so true:’Bad Boy’ Marvin Barnes dead at age 62

This is like losing one of your best friends here….He played the game the way it was supposed to be played….Super-aggressive….Not too many people out there could rebound like this man could….You had to call him a man, but you could call him a “Bad Boy’ too, cause Marvin Barnes was very tough and he stayed in trouble and it just seemed like trouble followed him everywhere he went….But you had to love the man, for the way he played the game….Hard and tough and there was no hardwood too tough for this guy…He had been so absent from the mainstream in recent years, you probably thought he was dead and now we get word that he is dead…But basketball players like Marvin Barnes never die…Barnes did not follow the leader, he was the leader and if you wanted to survive and you were going to be around ‘Bad Boy’ Marvin Barnes, you followed him….(You might say he went or played to the beat of his own drum.)

Just saw this bad news on ‘Bad Boy’ Marvin Barnes today and caught it through some of the Twitter comments over at the News and Record.com with Jeff Mills and Eddie Wooten….Marvin Barnes played his own drums and he followed his own beat and I still guy from way back when the Spirits of St. Louis and other ABA teams and I’ll never in my life forget two of his key teammates in Kevin Stacom and Ernie ‘D’, DiGregorio…..Barnes is like a folk legend from basketball in the 1970’s and he deserves his spot in basketball history, especially college basketball history right along beside guys like Bill Walton, Bob Lanier, Elvin Hayes, David Thompson, Lew Alcindor and others from back in that time-frame….

Marvin Barnes, many thought you were already dead, but a true basketball legend like you will never die, but I am glad you got your proper send-off here today….This was ‘The Man’, or yet better said, The ‘Bad Boy’ Marvin Barnes…..(Pretty sure Marvin Barnes played for Dave Gavitt up at Providence.)

from ESPN.com at www.espn.com:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A former Providence College teammate says Marvin Barnes, who led the school to the Final Four in 1973 and starred in the old American Basketball Association, has died. He was 62.

Kevin Stacom, one of Barnes’ closest friends, told the Providence Journal on Monday that Barnes died at a home in Providence. The cause of death was not known, but Barnes had battled drug addiction for years.

from Wikipedia on Marvin Barnes and they are calling hime ‘Bad News’, but most of us remember him as ‘Bad Boy’….
wwww.wikipedia.org:
Marvin Jerome Barnes (July 27, 1952 – September 8, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. As a 6’8″ forward, Barnes played at Providence College. In 1973, he was the first player to score 10 times on 10 field goal attempts in the NCAA playoffs, and remains tied for second behind Kenny Walker, who went 11-for-11 in 1986. He led the nation in rebounding in 1973-74. On December 15, 1973, Barnes scored 52 points against Austin Peay, breaking the single-game school record. He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the second overall pick in the first round of the 1974 NBA Draft and by the Spirits of St. Louis in the 1974 ABA Draft. Barnes opted for the ABA and played for the Spirits in the American Basketball Association from 1974 to 1976 before playing in the National Basketball Association from 1976 to 1980. He had his greatest success in the ABA, where he starred for the Spirits and was named Rookie of the Year for the 1974–75 season. He also shares the ABA record for most two-point field goals in a game, with 27. In 2005, the ABA 2000, the second incarnation of the ABA, named one of their divisions after him.

His nickname, “Bad News,” came from his frequent off-court problems, which began when he was a senior at Central High School. He was part of a gang that attempted to rob a bus. He was quickly identified as he was wearing his state championship jacket with his name embroidered on it. His case was handled by the juvenile justice system. In 1972, while playing center for Providence College, he attacked a teammate with a tire iron. He later pled guilty to assault, paid the victim $10,000 and was placed on probation. He violated probation in October 1976 when an unloaded gun was found in his bag at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and served 152 days in Rhode Island state prison. Upon release he returned to the Detroit Pistons. He was arrested for burglary, drug possession, and trespassing. Because of his drug use, his NBA career was cut short and he wound up homeless in San Diego, California in the early 1980s. After multiple rehab programs, he started reaching out to youth in South Providence, where he grew up, urging them not to make the same mistakes he had.

In March 2008, Providence College retired his jersey, honoring him along with Ernie DiGregorio and Jimmy Walker. He still co-holds (since tied by MarShon Brooks) the school single-game scoring record of 52 points. On September 8, 2014, Barnes died at the age of 62.