[1] He won the Penn Relays decathlon for a third and final time that year, his tally of 7735 points being only 49 short of Ken Doherty's American record.

[12] He was one of nine American star athletes sent on a goodwill tour of South Africa that summer,[3][13][14] and he broke the all-comers records there in several events.

[18] That summer he concentrated on starting his business career, deciding not to try out for a place at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles;[19] however, he resumed training the following winter.

[20] At the start of the year in March 1933, Berlinger staged his comeback after the disappointments of 1932, by beating the defending Olympic decathlon champion Jim Bausch in a head-to—head 'septathlon' contest indoors at Madison Square Gardens in New York City.

[3] He remained active in the sport even after retiring from competition for good; in 1936 he returned to the University of Pennsylvania as a deputy for the injured Robertson,[27] and after World War II he worked as an instructor for Army coaches in Europe.

[3] His son, Barney Jr., was a top college football player at the University of Pennsylvania where he captained Penn's first formal Ivy League championship team in 1959.