Westside baseball legend Gerald Barnes enters Georgia Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Gerald Barnes will be inducted into the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2026 this weekend.

The GACA only inducts a small group each year, and just four spots were reserved for the 2026 class. Barnes’ record in the dugout made him an undeniable choice.

Over a career that spanned half a century, Barnes compiled a 956-333 record, his place still reserved on Georgia’s all-time wins list. Barnes posted 46 consecutive winning seasons and built Westside into one of the state’s most respected programs.

Under his leadership, the Patriots captured two state championships in the late 1980s, finished as state runner-up twice and claimed 26 region titles.

A defining moment

Barnes said his first state championship in 1987 was a defining moment. Remembering that year, he said Westside swept through without losing a game. The following year, he remembers the Patriots losing one game in every round except the finals, which they swept.

“If I did get on them, I thought they had something in them, you know, and I was trying to get it out and, and, you know, that’s just how it is. You see something in them, you try to get it out. If you don’t get on them, I think you probably almost like giving up on them kind of, and I never give up on one.,” Barnes said.

Barnes said the recognition reflects more than one person.

“I think I remember the most, you know, maybe not so much the wins and losses, but I think it’s more about the people that have been here,” Barnes said.

Building from the ground up

When Barnes arrived at Westside, the school had only been in existence about four years and had posted just one winning season.

Barnes started coaching at 14, leading Little League teams. After finishing his playing career, he coached at a rec center in Statesboro while completing his degree. He was recruited to Westside by Bobby Banks and joined a staff that included Coach Cassedy, Carlton Thompson and Coach Finley.

“Those guys knew so much and I knew so little,” Barnes said. “They kind of taught me a lot about it, about the coaching part of it.”

Barnes said building the program from scratch was special.

“Being able to kind of start the program and build it from there, I think that’s pretty special,” Barnes said. “The hardest thing is trying to maintain where you’ve been.”

Barnes was previously inducted into the Georgia Dugout Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Richmond Academy Hall of Fame. He said this latest call still surprised him.

“I never thought I’d go into the first one. I didn’t really have that as one of my goals. I’m not sure what my goals were other than to be able to coach.”