Sometimes a guy’s record just speaks for itself.

Dave Barnes falls into that category.

The longtime Butler High School boys and girls tennis coach — who won 16 section championships before retiring in 1999 — will be inducted into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame Sept. 16.

“This is truly special for me,” Barnes said of his upcoming induction. “I was surprised to be going in as part of the second Hall of Fame class.

“The athletic legacy at Butler is unmatched. We have such a wide variation of sports here. I feel very fortunate to be selected.

“I never expected to coach as long as I did. You work with underclassmen getting ready for the next year and one year just keeps running into the next.”

Barnes coached the Golden Tornado boys tennis team for 35 years and the girls squad for 24. He endured only one losing season with each and went on to post a combined won-loss record of 741-280.

“We had really good kids through all of those years,” Barnes said. “Tennis is different up here. We don’t have a lot of kids being raised on the game like they have in Mt. Lebanon or Upper St. Clair.

“Most of our high school players haven’t taken lessons or anything. They go out on the court and battle. It was a pleasure coaching kids like that.”

Barnes taught physical education classes at the junior high from 1964 through 1986 and was able to identify potential players through his classes.

“I could identify kids who were strong on their feet,” he said. “I’d approach them about playing tennis, whether the kid was a standout basketball player in the winter or involved in some other sport in another season.

“A lot of them enjoyed the game once they tried it.”

Barnes said the most dominant boys player he ever coached was Pete Steenbergen, a 2004 inductee into the now Butler County Athletic Hall of Fame. Steenbergen did not lose a high school match in four years.

“Our 1992-93 teams had Rich Gavula and Brad Slamecka ... Those guys were outstanding,” Barnes said. “We got to the semifinals of the WPIAL, losing to Mount Lebanon one year, Upper St. Clair the next.”

Current Butler girls tennis coach Alisa Green played for Barnes at Butler and went on to play at Edinboro University.

“Alisa was such an intense player and she had the skills to match it,” he said. “She was the best girls player I ever coached.”

Barnes has been out of coaching for 12 years now.

“I still miss the kids, I still miss the coaching,” he admitted. “But I knew it was time to go. Times were changing.

“I’d overhear language in the halls, stuff I never used to hear. It’s no big deal to most people, but it affected me a lot.

“I still follow the program. It will always be a part of me,” Barnes added.

This year’s nine inductees will be honored during a reception at 5 p.m. Sept. 16 in the high school cafeteria. They will also be recognized on the field prior to the Golden Tornado’s football game against Canon McMillan that evening.