LOS ANGELES — Ernie Barnes, a former professional football player who became a successful figurative painter, known for depictions of athletes and ordinary people whose muscled, elongated forms express physical and spiritual struggles, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 70.
His death was caused by complications of a rare blood disorder, according to his longtime assistant, Luz Rodriguez.
Barnes was a child of the segregated South who transcended racial barriers to play for the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers before pursuing his real dream: to be an artist. He became the official artist of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, whose insights from his trials on the gridiron resulted in powerful, sometimes haunting portraits of agility, strength and the emotional costs of fierce competition.
His style became familiar to a prime-time television audience in the mid-1970s when producer Norman Lear hired Barnes to “ghost” the paintings by the Jimmie Walker character “J.J.” in the sitcom “Good Times.”
As the backdrop for the show’s closing credits, Lear used Barnes’ 1971 painting “Sugar Shack,” his most famous work. Singer Marvin Gaye later adapted the painting as the cover art for his 1976 album, “I Want You.”
Singer-songwriter Bill Withers, who was close to Barnes during the last decade of his life, said the artist often spoke of wanting to educate people through his art.
“He meant getting people to look past the superficial into the real vulnerable parts of themselves,” Withers said.
Barnes was born in a working-class family in Durham, N.C., on July 15, 1938. The shy and overweight Ernie began drawing to escape from the taunts of his schoolmates, but a teacher in high school helped him turn his size into advantage. He started lifting weights, lost his extra pounds and began excelling on the field.
In college he played football and majored in art before turning pro in 1960. A 6-foot-3, 250-pound offensive guard, he played for a succession of American Football League teams, including the Chargers and the Broncos, for the next five years.
He left football for a brief stint as the AFL’s official artist, then enjoyed the patronship of New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin.
Soon Barnes was winning commissions from entertainers such as Harry Belafonte, Flip Wilson and Charlton Heston.
Barnes, who was married three times, is survived by his wife of 25 years, Bernie; five children; and a brother.
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