He moved to Canada in 1976 and began a five-year stint with the Montreal Alouettes.
He lost his starting quarterback job in 1980 to Gerry Dattilio after six games, and was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Again, he shared quarterback duties for the Green Riders with John Hufnagel, and after the 1981 season headed to Toronto.
It was with the Toronto Argonauts that Barnes enjoyed his greatest success in the team's run and shoot offence.
As was his style, he came off the bench in the second half and engineered the game-winning drive and TD, a pass to Cedric Minter, in the final minutes.