Leslie Barley (born September 7, 1967) is a former

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

fullback and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. In a career lasting ten years, he played for the

Charlotte Rage The Charlotte Rage were a professional arena football team based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They were members of the Arena Football League from 1992 to 1996. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum from 1992 to 1994 and t ...

, the

Connecticut Coyotes The Connecticut Coyotes were an arena football franchise based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Coyotes played in the Eastern Division of the National Conference in the Arena Football League. History On June 22, 1994, the Arena Football League a ...

, the

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

, the

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena ...

and the Milwaukee Mustangs. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Winston-Salem State University Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) is a historically black public university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. History Winston-Salem State University was founded as "Slater Industrial A ...

. He was named First Team

All-Arena An All-Arena Team, an all-star team consisting of the best players of their position was selected every season in the Arena Football League (AFL). Teams * 1987 All-Arena Team, 1987 * 1988 All-Arena Team, 1988 * 1989 All-Arena Team, 1989 * 1990 Al ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and Second Team All-Arena in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Early life

Barley was born on September 7, 1967, in

Gretna, Virginia Gretna is a town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,267 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area. History The Gretna Commercial Historic District and Yates Tavern are lis ...

. He started playing football as an eighth grader at Gretna Junior High School. Though initially designated as a lineman, he was converted to

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

after the coaches his performances on the track team. Barley attended Gretna High School, where he participated in football, basketball, wrestling, and track and field. On the football team, he starred at running back while lining up as a

on defense. Barley earned honorable mention all-district honors as a sophomore before earning second-team all-district honors on both offense and defense as a junior. As a senior, he led the team with 108 tackles while registering 1,049 yards and seven touchdowns on offense, again earning first-team all-district honors at both positions. The Gretna Hawks went 1–9 and 2–8 in his final two seasons, respectively. Aside from football, Barley participated in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

all four years at Gretna, setting multiple school records. He regularly competed in six events (

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

100 yards The 100-yard dash is a track and field sprint event of . It was part of the Commonwealth Games until 1970, and was included in the triathlon of the Olympics in 1904. It is not generally used in international events, replaced by the 100-m ...

, 220 yards, and the

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

), though he competed in other events, such as the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

or the

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

, as needed. Barley won two district titles and one regional title in the discus throw. As a senior, he won the regional title in the triple jump and ran a leg in the 400-yard relay team that finished second in the state. Additionally, Barley won two district titles at 185 lbs. before Gretna cancelled its wrestling program. Instead, he played on the basketball team as a senior, a sport he had not played since his freshman year. Barley was considered an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

prospect in football, but his

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

scores did not meet the minimum requirements to play Division I sports, which were set by Prop 48. He chose to attend

, a Division II school which did not fall under the same guidelines at the time, over offers from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, Elon, and Ferrum.

College career

Barley arrived at Winston-Salem State as a running back, but quickly asked to move to linebacker due to the amount of running backs on the team. He recorded 19 sacks and 407 tackles in his college career. Barley earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in physical education and later returned to the school to earn his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in sports management in 1998.

Professional career

After going unselected in the 1990 NFL draft, Barley spent a year out of football. In June 1991, he was signed by the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) after impressing their coaching staff at a free agent camp in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

. Barley was released before the start of the regular season. Barley joined the Carolina Cougars of the Professional Spring Football League (PSFL) ahead of the inaugural 1992 PSFL season, though the league folded before playing a game. He signed with the

of the

(AFL) a few months later. As a rookie, Barley was second in the league with 264 rushing yards and ten touchdowns. Ahead of the 1993 season, he was loaned out to the

for an

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

against the

Detroit Drive The Massachusetts Marauders were a professional arena football team that was based in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were a member of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1994. The team was established in Detroit in 1988, as the Detroit ...

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, Germany. Barley rushed for 52 yards on five carries and caught a touchdown in the Storm's 43–35 win, and was named the game's most valuable player. Upon his return to the Rage, Barley rushed for 42 yards and one touchdown before he was permanently acquired by the Storm in a midseason trade for receiver Anthony Howard. In

ArenaBowl VII ArenaBowl '93 (or ArenaBowl VII) was the Arena Football League's seventh ArenaBowl. The game featured the number 3 Tampa Bay Storm (9–3) of the National Conference against the number 1 Detroit Drive (11–1) of the American Conference. The Storm ...

, Barley rushed for a record 49 yards and a touchdown to help the Storm defeat the Detroit Drive, 51–31. He was elected team captain ahead of the 1994 season, moving into the starting fullback role after the departure of Andre Bowden. Ahead of the 1995 season, Barley was traded to the

, one of the five AFL

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

s. In his first year with the Coyotes, he rushed for 118 yards and seven touchdowns, and caught 11 passes for 118 yards and one touchdown. He also registered 17 tackles, two sacks, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries on defense, earning first-team

honors. In the 1996 home opener on May 3, Barley rushed for a score and caught another one to help the Coyotes to a 68–34 victory over the Memphis Pharaohs – the first home win in franchise history. He was traded to the Charlotte Rage a few weeks later in exchange for

Billy Owens Billy Eugene Owens (born May 1, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Syracuse, where he was an All-American and th ...

and Reggie Robinson. Barley returned to the Tampa Bay Storm in 1997 after the disappearance of the Charlotte Rage. That season, he rushed for 183 yards and eight touchdowns on 43 carries. On May 23, 1998, in a game against the

Florida Bobcats The Florida Bobcats were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Sunrise, Florida. They were previously known as the Sacramento Attack and the Miami Hooters, and played in the AFL for a total of ten seasons, the last seven in West Palm Beac ...

, Barley became the first player in AFL history to surpass the 1,000-yard career mark. That season, he earned second-team

honors after rushing for 232 yards and a league-leading 15 touchdowns and registering 30 total tackles, eight sacks, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries on defense. Barley finished his career with the

in 2000 and the Milwaukee Mustangs in 2001. Barley finished his career as the AFL's all-time leading rusher with 1,382 rushing yards on 425 carries. He held the record until it was broken in 2006 by Bob McMillen.

Coaching career

In 1992, Barley was hired as an assistant football coach at Rock Hill High School in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the most populous city in York County, South Carolina, United States, and the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 5th-most populous city in the state. It is also the 4th-most populous city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, be ...

. He had previously served as a part-time assistant coach at his alma mater, Winston-Salem State, for two years.

References

External links

Les Barley
at ArenaFan {{DEFAULTSORT:Barley, Les 1967 births Living people People from Gretna, Virginia American football linebackers American football fullbacks Winston-Salem State Rams football players Charlotte Rage players Connecticut Coyotes players Tampa Bay Storm players Grand Rapids Rampage players Milwaukee Mustangs (1994–2001) players Players of American football from Virginia