MOUNTULLA — When his mom told him he’d been named Rowan County Athlete of the Year for the 2000-01 school year, West Rowan’s Jared Barnette thought she was pulling his leg — the good leg, the one that’s still got an ACL and a little cartilage in the knee.
“I was shocked,” said Barnette. “Really. I mean, think about all the great athletes in Rowan county. Gotta be someone that deserved it more.”
The folks at Rowan Baseball Inc., who sponsor and vote on the award and provide a handsome trophy for the winner, disagreed. The way they saw it, it would have been a shock if someone other than Barnette had won.
Not that the other schools didn’t nominate good people. Salisbury offered three-sport star Boo Blount, who finished second in the balloting. Other nominees were East football/baseball whiz Cal Hayes Jr.; North football star Jarrett Wishon; and South’s Tore’ Girty, who got things done in basketball and football.
But the voters kept coming back to Barnette. Baseball player of the year in the county primarily for his pitching and third in the voting for Rowan’s top offensive football player for his exploits as West’s quarterback, Barnette had a fall and spring that were both consistent and spectacular.
West football coach Scott Young points at two stats to tell the Barnette story. During Barnette’s junior and senior years, West, rarely a football power in its history, rolled to 20-5. And during that span, Barnette tossed 33 touchdown passes and only 13 interceptions.
“Don’t know all the numbers from all the quarterbacks in West history,” said Young. “I do know that no one had a winning percentage like Barnette.
“His touchdown-interception ratio was so important. He rarely made a mistake and always put his team in position to win.”
Young says that if West sustains the success it’s had the past two years that people may one day look back and point at Barnette as the one who got it all started.
“He helped get the ball rolling for us,” said Young. “No doubt about that.”
Barnette threw four touchdown passes in West’s playoff win over High Point Andrews last November, but his shining moment came when West beat A.L. Brown for the first time ever to lay claim to its first conference title. Barnette kept limping off the field in that one, only to hobble back to the huddle and lead his team down the field. He finished with 228 yards and the game-winning touchdown pass to Ben Hampton with 1:18 on the clock.
That Wonder game-tape is the one that always stays on top of the VCR in the Barnette household.
“The game I’ll tell my grandchildren about,” is how Barnette puts it.
If you didn’t know what he looked like, you’d have a hard time picking Barnette out in the West cafeteria, because he’s not physically imposing. But two things separate him from the pack. An amazingly accurate right arm and an amazingly large heart.
“When I first saw him, I had no idea he’d ever be as good as he got,” said Young. “But he’s got the guts and the heart and he worked his tail off.”
Good as he was in football, Barnette’s pigskin heroics only set the table for his baseball season. He led the county in wins (8), strikeouts (90) and posted an ERA of 1.88. He also led coach Chris Cauble’s Falcons in RBIs (18) and tied for the team lead in homers (4), as West reached the state 3A playoffs. In those playoffs, Barnette outdueled Asheboro High star Lance Cole as the Falcons won a memorable first-round matchup on the road.
“Jared was the leader of that team on and off the field,” said Cauble. “This award couldn’t go to a better person, because he’d do anything you asked of him. We’re awfully proud of what he’s accomplished.”
And now Barnette’s duplicated something that his baseball coach accomplished in 1985. Cauble was Rowan athlete of the year when he was a baseball catcher, football linebacker and basketball point guard at East.
Barnette is only the second West boy to win a prestigious award that’s been in existence since 1975. The first Falcon winner was David Drechsler, who took home the hardware in 1978.
“I know this is real big for Jared,” said Young. “This will make up some for him missing the Legion baseball season.”
Barnette missed his South Legion summer, ironically, because of a knee injury he suffered running to first base in that Asheboro game.
Barnette had surgery recently in which his damaged ACL was removed completely.
“Nothing left there now,” said Barnette. “Just a big hole.”
But not nearly as big a hole as the county’s latest athlete of the year leaves at West.
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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