Quinton "Que" Barnes, a native of Suffolk, Virginia is the 14th of 15 children to Floyd and Effie Barnes. Barnes attended John F. Kennedy High School, where he was a standout football, basketball and track athlete for all four years. He won district and regional championships all four years at JFK in all three sports, but never an elusive state championship, (a source of tension at family gatherings to this day). JFK honored him by hanging his high school jersey in the school gym and in the trophy case.
Barnes’ began his college football career as a redshirt at Virginia Tech. There, he met his future WVU Tech teammates Lee Jones and William “Big-Bill” Jackson, who eventually recruited him to play for Tech Hall of Fame coach Bob Gobel.
At Tech, he was team captain (1995-96); team MVP (1995-96); A. W. Orndorff Award winner (1995-96); eight-time WVIAC defensive player of the week; three-time WVIAC All-Conference selection; WVIAC All-Conference defensive player of the year (96); Charleston Area Rotary Club Athlete of the Year; WV Sportswriters Sportsmanship selection; National Burger King Scholar-Athlete selection (96); and UPI All-American selection.
He set WVIAC records for most tackles in single game (24), most average tackles per game (17.5) and most tackles per single season (175).
Off the field, he was a member of the Football Coach Screening Committee; WVU Tech’s basketball team (1993-94); a girl’s basketball camp advisor/speaker (1995-96); Presidential Excellency Academic Citation award winner (96); Who’s Who in American Colleges selection; Phi Alpha Theta National Honor Society member; Governor Gaston Caperton Collegiate Student Board Representative; president of the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee; president of the Special Committee to the College; Athletic Department student-athlete representative; a student ambassador recruit (STAR); staff writer for the Tech Collegian; SGA member; Black Student Association member; City of Montgomery-WV Tech special liaison representative; Nighthawk Summer Youth Program for at-risk youth counselor (1992-96); and a six-time member of the academic dean’s list.
He earned a degree in history and political science in 1996. After college, he logged two unsuccessful stints with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent. He worked for Norfolk Southern Railway as a bridges-structures engineer and the Virginia Department of Transportation as a bridge inspector and project engineer. In 1999, he started the Triangular Ascension construction business. He owned and operated Seventh City, a sports bar and restaurant for 5 years. He founded the Big Hoss Trucking, LLC, in 2015, which he now runs with partner Rodney Hart.
Barnes has also coached linebackers at Portsmouth Christian High School who were recruited to a number of prestigious college football programs.
Barnes has been happily married for 19 years to his college sweetheart and WVU Tech graduate LaShawn. They reside in Suffolk with their two wonderful sons Gabriel, 15, and Judah, 8.
