Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Barnes was introduced to wrestling while attending Tulsa Central High School in Oklahoma. After high school, he enrolled at Oklahoma A&M University, where he wrestled for four years. Barnes was a member of the national championship teams at A&M in 1933, 1934, and 1935, and he participated in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials twice. He graduated from A&M with a B.S. degree in 1936 and went on to teach at Virginia Military Institute from 1938 to 1941. During World War II, Barnes served in the Pacific Theatre as a member of the U.S. Navy.

After the war, Barnes pursued his graduate studies at UNC Chapel Hill and earned his M.A. in 1946. He subsequently worked at V.M.I. and Washington & Lee University before returning to Chapel Hill. In 1950, while still a graduate student, Barnes became the wrestling coach at UNC, a position he held until 1973. During his tenure, he coached for 25 seasons, including 24 at UNC and one at VMI. Additionally, he completed his Ph.D. in 1953 and joined the faculty of the English Department at Chapel Hill. Barnes remained a member of the English department for 23 years.

Barnes made significant contributions to the development of high school and collegiate wrestling in North Carolina throughout his career as an English professor and wrestling coach. He served as the president of the National Wrestling Coaches Association from 1964 to 1965 and authored the book "Ready, Wrestle" in 1964. In recognition of his achievements, Barnes was posthumously inducted into the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.