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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 63 "Cornbread" Maxwell, the star forward who led Rose's team to the Final Four in Charlotte. Barnes took a recruiting visit just so he could meet Maxwell, never really intending to go to school there. Still, when Rose was hired, he thought he might have a leg up due to his previous relationship. "I was one of the first guys Coach Rose visited when he took the job at Purdue," Barnes said, "and he told me we had the pieces for a national championship here." But that is about as far as Barnes got with Rose. For whatever reason, the two didn't click and Barnes found himself deep on the bench. It got so bad that Rose suggested to Barnes that he transfer, in - timating to Barnes that he was rarely, if ever, going to see the floor as long as he roamed the sidelines in West Lafayette. "I told him, 'I am coming to practice every day, and if you do not play me it is because of you, not because I don't work harder than everybody else,' " said Barnes, recalling a time that still haunts him. "I didn't transfer and I didn't quit. That went on for two years, but I actually played more my junior year during the NCAA Tour - nament when we went to the Final Four (Rose's final season at Purdue). So, I was thankful for that. "The whole experience shocked me, but I learned from it and it made me a better person in the process. When Rose left, it was like a gift from heaven because Coach Keady came in." Gene Keady and Barnes were cut more from the same cloth. Both were street fight- ers by nature, so the duo instantly under- stood one another. In his senior year under Keady, Barnes started just one game, but he played enough to help build that perso- na of Keady Ball, a key ingredient to the coach's successful 25-year run at Purdue. "Coach was in pretty good shape when he took the job here, he was solid physical- ly," Barnes said of Keady, who was 43 when athletic director George King offered him the gig. "And in those days he would fight you, literally fight you, if you weren't doing things the right way. CheckingMadeBetter.com Member FDIC More Account Choices. Checking options that fit your life. More Convenience. Ask us about Mobile Banking. More Freedom from Fees. Let us show you the options. BARNES DID ALL THREE Roosevelt Barnes competed in three team sports while he was at Purdue from 1977-81. A reserve guard, Barnes set the tone for Keady Ball with his toughness. Barnes was the leading slugger in 1978 and '79. Barnes played the 1981 football season, leading the team in tackles for loss. Photos courtesy of Purdue