Stewart Clair Barber (born June 14, 1939) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

offensive tackle in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

. He also was an executive in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for the

. He played college football at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

Early years

Barber attended

Bradford Area High School Bradford Area High School is a public high school providing grades 9-12. It is located in Bradford, Pennsylvania, in the north central region of the Commonwealth. The current principal is David Ray. In the 2016–2017 school year the enrollment w ...

. He accepted a football scholarship from

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

, where he was a two-way tackle. As a senior, he received All-American honors as an offensive tackle.

Professional career

Barber was selected by the

in the fourth round (27th overall) of the

1961 AFL Draft Because another league was in competition for the class of 1961 college stars, the American Football League draft for 1961 graduates was held in 1960, with a six-round telephone draft on November 21 and 22, that saw the Buffalo Bills select Auburn ...

and was also selected by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

in the third round (30th overall) of the

1961 NFL Draft The 1961 National Football League draft took place at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on December 27–28, 1960. The league would later hold an expansion draft for the Minnesota Vikings expansion franchise. This draft was also the first reg ...

. On January 8,

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, he signed with the Bills. As a rookie, he started 14 games at

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pla ...

and had 3 interceptions, returning one for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

. In

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

, he was moved to

left tackle Tackle is a playing position in gridiron football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, ...

, protecting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Warren Rabb Samuel Warren Rabb (born December 12, 1937) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) and the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (AFL). He was selected in the secon ...

Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional gridiron football, football player. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party from New York, he served as United States Sec ...

and

Al Dorow Albert Richard Dorow (November 15, 1929 – December 7, 2009) was an American gridiron football quarterback. He played college football at Michigan State University and professionally in the National Football League (NFL), the American Football ...

. He helped the team win two straight AFL Championships. In

, he filled in 6 games at

left guard In gridiron football, a guard (G), otherwise known as an offensive guard (OG), is a player who lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team on the line of scrimmage used primarily for blocking. Right ...

in place of an injured

Billy Shaw William Lewis Shaw (born December 15, 1938) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive guard for the Buffalo Bills in the American Football League (AFL). After playing college football with the Georgia Tech Yellow ...

. Barber announced his retirement after the 1969 season. In his career he only missed one game, made first-team All- AFL two straight seasons and played in five consecutive AFL All-Star games. In

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

, he was named to the second-team

American Football League All-Time Team The American Football League (AFL) All-Time Team was selected on January 14, 1970. The first and second teams were determined by a panel of members of the AFL's Hall of Fame Board of Selectors: Offense Defense Special teams Coach See also ...

Personal life

After football, he worked in the

front office as a college scout, assistant General Manager and Vice President. On March 14,

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, he resigned from the team. Barber was the offensive line coach for the New York Stars and

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

of the World Football League in 1974, under head coach, Babe Parilli.

References

External links

Stew Barber bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Stew 1939 births Living people People from Bradford, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania American football offensive linemen Penn State Nittany Lions football players Buffalo Bills players Buffalo Bills scouts Buffalo Bills executives National Football League general managers American Football League All-Star players American Football League All-Time Team American Football League players