A native of Eden, North Carolina, Barker attended Morehead High School where he wrestled, played baseball, and ran track. Graduating from Morehead in 1995, Barker attended Appalachian State University. While at Appalachian, Barker remained connected with the Morehead program, assisting Coach Greg Frey. Barker was adept at scouting opposing teams and strategically arranging lineups for dual team matches, a technique he learned from his father Wayne, also a wrestling coach. As a member of the Morehead coaching staff, Barker coached with Panther teams that won state dual titles in 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2014, and 2016 and state tournament titles in 1998, 1999, 2006, 2014, and 2015. Growing up, Barker was an avid reader of Bob Mauldin’s North Carolina Mat News and a student of team rankings and results. In 1997, he took over the Super 32 rankings for individual high school wrestlers in North Carolina. Barker’s rankings were posted on NCMat.com, a website maintained by Sara Koenig. In 2000, Koenig and Barker renamed an annual pre-season tournament held at Morehead High School the “Super 32 Challenge,” which began attracting the top talent in North Carolina looking to improve their rankings. In 2001, nationally ranked Great Bridge, Virginia travelled to the Super 32 Challenge, which in turn lured additional nationally ranked teams and individuals to the tournament. In 2005, the Super 32 moved to the Greensboro Coliseum, topping 1,000 entries. The Super 32 has sold out every year since 2003, taking just seven minutes to sell out in 2022. Now in its 23rd year, Barker and Koenig’s Super 32 Challenge remains the premier wrestling tournament in the country. For the past five years, Barker has worked as a wrestling official in the Piedmont Association. He officiated the Men’s Individual State Tournament in 2021 and the Women’s Wrestling Invitational in 2023. An avid sports card enthusiast, Barker owns a massive collection of hundreds of thousands of cards. David and Wayne Barker are just the second father and son inducted into the NWHOF North Carolina Chapter.