A veteran of the United States Air Force during the Korean conflict, he attended the University of New Mexico where he was a three-sport varsity athlete, and earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees.

At the University of Western Ontario, he served as director of intercollegiate athletics from 1972 to 1979, then focused on teaching, writing and research, and became a professor emeritus in 1996.

[13][14] The family moved according to their father's military service, including stays in Rochester, New Hampshire, Lake Charles, Louisiana, Biloxi, Mississippi, the island of Guam, and the Panama Canal Zone.

[7] Barney enrolled at University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1950, played football for the Lobos in his freshman year, then joined the United States Air Force by 1951.

[6][15] In four years with the Air Force, he was an atomic armorer for nuclear weapons testing in the western United States and the South Pacific, and served in the Korean conflict.

[16] He also played for the 4925th Atomics in the Duke City Baseball League,[17] participated in New Mexico amateur swim meets with the Kirtland Air Force Base team,[18] and played defense and goaltender for the Kirtland Air Force Base Flyers in the Sandia Mountain Hockey League.

[24] The day prior to a competition, Barney consumed a three-pound (1.4 kg) roast then raced to a second-place finish in a 1,500 meters (1,600 yards) freestyle swimming event.

[25] Barney was a letterman for the Lobos baseball and swimming teams,[15] earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education at UNM in 1959,[7] and was named to the dean's honor roll.

[28] Barney was subsequently named the AAU water polo commissioner for New Mexico, and oversaw the first annual state championships, held in 1960 at the Johnson Gymnasium Pool at UNM.

[31] He played for and coached the Los Federales water polo team, which included his brothers David and Peter; and competed in New Mexico AAU tournaments.

[40] Researching a long-time UNM coach and athletic director, Barney authored The Roy W. Johnson Biography, as part of his master's degree thesis published in November 1963.

[16] Barney served as director of intercollegiate athletics at University of Western Ontario from 1972 to 1979, in the newly established Faculty of Physical Education.

[47] During Barney's time as athletics director, the Western Mustangs football team increased from an all-time low of 200 season ticket subscribers in 1974,[48] to an average attendance of 10,000 per game by 1977.

[49] In October 1975, the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union (CIAU) suspended the Windsor Lancers from all sports for two years, for the use of an ineligible men's football player.

[50] In May 1976, the Windsor Star reported that Barney proposed realignment of schools at the 1976 OUAA general meeting, which "would bring together universities with similar philosophies towards athletics".

[51] Due to decreasing enrollment, inflation and budget cuts as of 1978, Barney considered eliminating some sports from intercollegiate athletics.

[54] As of July 1, 1979, Barney was succeeded as chairman intercollegiate athletics by Bob Eynon, varsity swimming coach of the Mustangs.

[1] He continued to teach sport history courses in addition to his research, and supervising master's and doctorate student theses and dissertations.

[61] His scholarly published works number more than 300 items as of 2023, including books, peer-reviewed articles, chapters in anthologies, reviews, abstracts, and proceedings papers.

He also that felt that Canada's medal count at the 2000 Summer Olympics, was due to a lack of government funding, and poor planning to develop high performance athletes.

He co-authored the book Selling the Five Rings (2002), with Stephen Wenn and Scott Martyn, which discussed the history of corporate sponsorships and television rights for the Olympic Games.

[71] Barney researched the oldest verified baseball game was in Canada, based on a letter from Adam Ford to the editor of Sporting Life, published on May 5, 1886.

[77] In 2021, Barney was appointed to a steering committee for an application by London, Ontario, for Labatt Park to be granted national heritage site distinction.

[76] Barney has received multiple honors from the University of Western Ontario, including the Edward G. Pleva Award for excellence in teaching in 1985.

[46][79] He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on June 17, 2014, and gave that year's convocation address, titled "The Fruits of Your Roots".

[14][85] Their younger brother Peter served in the United States Navy, also attended UNM, and was a director of physical education at Albuquerque Academy.