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By Bill Koch
Go.BEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI -- The first congratulatory text message caught Brian Barney by surprise.
A middle distance runner on the University of Cincinnati track team, Barney was named the American Athletic Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in March. It was an award he didn't even know he had been nominated for.
"Somebody texted me about it and said, `Congratulations,' " Barney said. "I'm like, for what? What are you talking about? Then I found out and I read it and I was like, wow, this is pretty awesome that the whole conference would want to pick me out of all these other student-athletes to represent them in that way. I'm really honored to have won that award."
There were more to come. Barney would be named one of 12 finalists for the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award from a group of 600 nominees across the country. The award recognizes minority student-athletes who excel i n the classroom and on the field and who have demonstrated a record of service to the community and the campus. Past winners include Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Marshall Faulk.
Barney has also received UC's Nancy Hamant Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and was one of six recipients of the school's Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence.
A senior from South Holland, Ill., a suburb south of Chicago, Barney will graduate this Saturday with a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Movement. He has a 3.907 grade point average. In the fall, he'll start the University of Kentucky's three-year Doctor of Physical Therapy program.
Monday afternoon Barney met with a reporter on the eighth floor of the Lindner Center not far from athletic director Mike Bohn's office. He was dressed impeccably but casually, his outfit punctuated by a bow tie, as he talked about UC, his athletic career, his hopes for the future, and how grateful he is for the opportunity that his parents have given him.
"I had a very good support system in my family," Barney said. "As I get older, I get more grateful for what my parents did for me to set me up for success."
Joshua and Cheryl Barney began the process early with Brian and his older brother, Elliott.
"Both my boys, ever since kindergarten, they probably didn't understand, but we would emphasize how important education is," Cheryl said. "And we always had a role in their education as well. We've always been involved."
Barney's parents grew up on the South Side of Chicago in neighborhoods that were slowly deteriorating. They lived in suburban Dalton when Brian was born, but moved to South Holland when he was about six months old because they believed the schools were better. They wanted to give their sons every opportunity to flourish.
Barney, through his relationship with a former Hughes High School student named Jarell, whom he has mentored for the past four years, knows that everyone isn't so fortunate.
"Seeing the complete opposite of that," he said, "with him having no support system, no one pushing him to do better or very few people pushing him to do better, it makes me even more grateful that my parents sacrificed so much and put so much into me and my brother so that we could be successful.
"It's been interesting to see how people end up where they are. It's easy to judge people and say, `OK, you're a high school dropout, what are you doing with your life?' But you never understand all the factors behind why that would happen to someone. Now I have a greater understanding. Not everyone has it easy. I was really privileged. I had it really easy. All I had to do was show up and perform and he's got all these other factors that are keeping him from doing that."
It would be quite a stretch to say that what Barney has accomplished at UC has been "really easy." One of the keys to his success was learning to make the most of his time, both as a track athlete and as a student.
"I always felt that being in athletics actually helped me structure my time better so that I could be a better student," Barney said. "It forced me to be on top of my game because I didn't have as much free tiume to just mess around. I had to make sure I was getting my studies done. It definitely helped me be more disciplined. That's always been the way (at UC), particularly with the track team, that academics always comes first. We talk about it every week in our weekly meetings. They've always encouraged us to do our best in our academics."
Barney chose UC as the result of a tour of colleges that he took during the summer after his junior year at Seton Academy. He loved the campus and when he looked into the academic programs, decided that's where he wanted to go, although he had to convince his mother, who didn't want him to go so far away from home. During the tour, he also visited Ohio State, Central State, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.
After he was accepted by UC, he won a Cincinnatus XV Scholarship, the school's highest monetary academic scholarship for undergraduates. Having run track in high school, he met with Bill Schnier, who was then UC's track coach, while he was on campus for the scholarship competition. Later he made another visit with his parents, this time as a prospective track athlete, and became an integral part of the program.
"Obviously I'm not the fastest runner on the team," Barney said, "but I've definitely enjoyed my time here. I've trained really hard throughout these four years in addition to doing other stuff outside of track. But I think my track career has been definitely memorable as far as being able to travel to different places to represent Cincinnati. Regardless of how fast I've been able to run, it's been the experience of a lifetime."
Barney has performed mainly as a member of UC's relay teams. The highlight of his career, he said, was during his freshman year when he was part the 4x400 relay team in the Big East Conference outdoor meet.
"We ended up eking out a couple of points where weren't projected to," he said, "so that was pretty cool."
Barney won't go down in the record books as one of UC's greatest runners, but he has made his mark in part because of the influence he has had on his teammates. In addition to track and his academic responsibilities, he's involved in campus activities and a variety of community service projects, including a project to provide shoes for people in Haiti, which he visited a year ago on a service trip. He has also done published research on neuroexcitability, therapeutics and recovery, served as president of the ADVANCE professional development organization, vice-president of Inter-Greek Affairs, and was a member of UC's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
His teammates see all that he does and wonder how he finds the time.
"Every year as the head coach I have some kids that come out and talk to the whole team about time management," said Susan Seaton, UC's interim director of track and cross country. "Brian will talk to the freshmen. He'll say, `This is how you do it. You've just got to have a plan. If you love it, you find time for it. If it's important, you find time for it.' "
Barney's immediate goal is to be a physical therapist. As an athlete, he said, he has always been interested in how the human body works and was looking for a way to combine science with being able to work with his hands and work with athletes while being in a position "to people change their lives by helping them get back to health."
Seaton, who often wonders what her student-athletes will achieve after they leave school, said she's especially curious to see what Barney will do with the rest of his life.
"I have so much hope," she said. "He's got such a good message and understands his place in the community and understands how much he can influence people."
She looks west to Arizona where former UC sprinter Reginald Bolding was recently elected to the state House of Representatives. She can envision something similar for Barney.
"I tell him, `Barney, that might be you one day,' " she said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you can do things like that. Sometimes it only takes one person to show the way."
For now, Barney is simply looking forward to enjoying graduation with his family this weekend. He's proud of what he's accomplished at UC, but he quickly dismissed a suggestion that, with his academic work completed, he has earned the right to spend the next few days partying in celebration.
"It's still track season," he said.
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBEARCATS.com as featured columnist in January, 2015. Follow him on Twitter @bkoch.