Irvington HS cross-country and track coach Barnes Reid to be inducted into state coaches hall of fame

IRVINGTON, NJ — Irvington High School cross-country and track and field coach Barnes Reid, who is in his 45th year of coaching, has been selected as an inductee of the New Jersey State Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Reid is currently the IHS assistant cross-country coach this fall, assistant track and field coach for the winter and head girls track coach in the spring. He has coached numerous individual and team champions on the county, state and national levels.

Here is a timeline of his IHS coaching career:

• 1979-81, winter track girls head coach and assistant boys track coach.
• 1981-91, head track coach.
• 1991-00, assistant track coach.
• 2001-02, head track coach.
• 2002-13, assistant track and cross country.
• 2014-present, head girls track coach and assistant winter track coach.

In 2019, Reid was inducted into both the Irvington HS Athletic Hall of Fame and the Newark Athletic Hall of Fame. Reid attended Barringer High School from 1966-69 and Essex County College from 1969-71. He also attended Seton Hall University from 1971-73, where he earned his bachelor of science degree in health and physical education.

Reid was also the first African-American health and physical education teacher hired by Irvington Board of Education in 1979. He was previously a health and physical education teacher in Newark from 1974-79. Reid retired as a teacher in 2013.

During his tenure as coach, Barnes has produced five state shuttle hurdle relay champions, two national shuttle hurdle relay relay champions, 10 state sectional hurdle champions, 10 all group hurdle champions and three Meet of Champion hurdlers. He has a dual-meet record of more than 100 victories as well having a first-place Penn Relays 1,600-meter relay team in 1980.  He has been recognized as Essex County Track Staff Coach of the Year in 2013. He als has been the recipient of eight state championship rings and was the recipient of one national championship ring (shuttle hurdle relays). 

Barnes is a longtime resident of Irvington and is husband to Daisy Reid. They have four children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In 2009, he was given the Governor’s Teacher Recognition Recipient Award. In 2013, Barnes was a recipient and honoree of the Irvington NAACP Chapter Award for distinguished service as a teacher and track coach along with receiving a State of New Jersey Senate and General Assembly Joint Legislative Resolution honoring, saluting and paying tribute to him as a highly esteemed member o f the community for meritorious record of service, leadership and commitment. 

IHS athletic director John Taylor was ecstatic about Reid’s induction into the New Jersey State Coaches Hall of Fame.

“Barnes Reid has given so much of his life to Irvington Public Schools,” Taylor said. “He’s a retired teacher and continues to coach track. Entering his 45th season, he’s everything you can ask for as a track coach. Coach Reid has led athletes to Meet of Champions titles, state relay championships, group and sectional championships, Penn Relays titles and national championships. 

“He was the first-ever Irvington track coach to win an individual male, individual female and relay teams to state championships in school history. These accolades are definitely hall-of-fame worthy, but what anyone in the Irvington community will tell you is that Barnes Reid is an incredible person.

His passion for children of Irvington is unwavering. I’m so elated that he’s going into the coaches hall of fame, but I truly believe he’s a first ballot hall-of-fame person, friend, mentor and family man.”

  Irvington High School track and field