Detroit Lions great Lem Barney is in failing health in Texas, and it’s unlikely he’ll return to Michigan amid a bitter family dispute involving his care and estate.
Barney, 77, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is in advanced stages of dementia. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia in 2013, a result of numerous concussions during his lengthy football career, according to court records.
“Dementia has set in,” Pistons legend and Barney’s longtime friend Dave Bing told The Detroit News. “But long story short, he is in Houston with his two children and his grandchildren. He’s not doing well, and he’s in a long-care facility right now. … All we can do is hope and pray that he comes through this.”
Bing and attorney Jon Munger were appointed as Barney’s guardians by Oakland County Probate Court Judge Daniel O’Brien in May and June, respectively, after the judge tried multiple combinations of family members and friends over the years amid family drama.
Munger said Barney was placed in a rehabilitation facility in Texas this month after being discharged from a local hospital. He likely will stay there for several weeks, Munger said, and is probably not going back to his family.
After leading efforts to compel the NFL to compensate players who suffered long-term brain injuries from concussions, Barney is now at the center of a battle between his wife and children that includes allegations of kidnapping, misappropriation of his funds and an effort to cash in on his NFL settlement money.
Barney is widely considered one of the greatest cornerbacks in NFL history. The Mississippi native parlayed his college career at Jackson State into a Hall of Fame pro career with the Lions.
He was taken in the second round (34th overall) of the 1967 NFL Draft after the Lions selected UCLA running back Mel Farr in the first round, and a year after the Pistons got Bing in the first round of the NBA Draft.
“He, Mel Farr and myself became like brothers,” Bing, the former Detroit mayor, told The News. “So, it’s been a 60-year relationship.”
Barney made an immediate impact. In the first quarter of his first game, he intercepted a pass from legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr and returned it for a touchdown.
“First pass ever thrown my way in the NFL, and I took it in,” Barney once told NFL Publishing. “I thought to myself, ‘Lord, this is going to be easy.'”
In the last game of his rookie season, Barney intercepted three passes, giving him a league-leading 10 for the season.
“Interceptions were my forte,” he once told NFL Publishing. “I liked to think of myself as a defensive weapon turned offensive weapon. The keys were, and are, knowledge of your opponents and the guts to say that once the ball is in the air, it’s as much mine as his.”
He was named the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year and made the first of his seven Pro Bowl teams. He finished his career with 56 interceptions, returning seven for touchdowns.
It matched the number of concussions he suffered in his playing days.
Since 2021, Barney’s family — mainly his second wife and the children from his first marriage — have been fighting over his care. Wife Jacqueline Barney, daughter LaTrece Barney and former Lions offensive tackle Lomas Brown have all, at some point, been Barney’s guardian or co-guardians.
According to court records, Barney first entered a guardianship in 2018, with Jacqueline serving as a guardian, and in the years following, his daughter also became a co-guardian, on and off, until May 2023. Guardians typically make decisions regarding care, and conservators make decisions about an incapacitated person’s finances.
In 2018, Barney said that he wanted his wife to be his guardian. He said he was aware his daughter might object to this, but he “clearly indicated” he wanted Jacqueline to be his guardian as he had “very minimal contact” with his daughter, wrote guardian ad litem H. Elliot Parnes, a court-appointed neutral party whose role was to advocate for Barney’s best interests.
When the guardianship was established, Parnes wrote to the court that he had concerns about the relationship between Barney and his children. He said a visit with Barney, Jacqueline and the kids ended in yelling, and he didn’t let the kids take their father for a drive because he was concerned about what they would do if they were allowed to leave with Barney in their car.
“It is clear that there is a large amount of animosity between his wife and his children,” Parnes wrote. He noted no additional visits should take place because of a potentially negative effect on Barney.
Jacqueline was the conservator and handled his day-to-day care until September 2021. That month, Barney went to visit his children and ex-wife, Martha Barney, in Texas. His visit was only supposed to be for a week or two, but he has not returned to Michigan.
Linda Davis Friedland, Jacqueline Barney’s attorney, filed an emergency petition in October 2021 stating, “Lem Barney has been kidnapped.” Friedland said daughter LaTrece Barney “unduly influence(ed) Lem” into staying in Texas.
But according to a 2022 court filing by Richard Strenger, LaTrece’s attorney, Barney’s daughter continues to try to get her father to return to Michigan, but he refuses, Barney’s neurologist also recommends he avoid travel, according to documents in the court record.
O’Brien has threatened to hold Barney’s daughter in contempt of court several times. LaTrece did not respond to The News to requests for comment.
While Barney has been in Texas, LaTrece said his health improved and he was getting daily exercise, according to court records. Barney told Bing several times he didn’t want to come back to Michigan, according to court records. Bing declined to discuss the family dynamics with The News.
Jacqueline was his guardian from 2018 until O’Brien suspended her in May; LaTrece was suspended as guardian at the same time. Court records say they were suspended “for cause” but did not give specifics.
O’Brien also asked both LaTrece and Jacqueline to account for Barney’s money that they spent. But neither complied with his request, according to the judge. But O’Brien and the attorneys involved decided at an Aug. 17 hearing not to pursue an investigation because, even if wrongdoing was found, there would be no remedy as neither could pay the money back and Barney is not having financial issues.
In March, Barney’s ex-wife, Martha, was criminally charged with hitting him, according to court records in Harris County, Texas. The case was dismissed in June, but Texas’ Adult Protective Services concluded that he had been neglected in her and LaTrece’s care, according to Munger and O’Brien. Martha Barney did not respond to The News for comment.
Strenger said in March 2022 that Jacqueline had not called her husband since he left Michigan. Strenger said Barney did not want to be alone with his wife because he believed then that she did not have the capacity to take care of him or herself, according to court records.
The family tension over his care spilled into the public this month through an online fundraising campaign to raise awareness and money for Barney. But the campaign to raise $150,000 sparked criticism from O’Brien and Munger, who said the money from the GoFundMe page is not going toward his care.
The creator of the fundraiser wrote that withholding of funds has hindered the family’s ability to care for Barney and pay for his medications. The effort had raised at least $1,100 as of Thursday. A message sent to the email listed by the GoFundMe account wasn’t returned.
The creator of the page is named “Lemuel Barney,” but Barney is not in a state to approve or create a GoFundMe page, Munger said. In court on Aug. 17, Barney’s son, Lemuel III, denied writing it but said he “endorsed it.”
“Pretty much every word of that (second) paragraph that has to do with Lem Barney is a lie,” the judge said.
Munger told The News he pays for Barney’s care — not the family — and that he is reimbursed by the NFL.
Varina Carter, Lem Barney Jr.’s sister, in a text message to The News wrote: “Please do not donate to this fund. My brother is being taken care of now.”
Carter told The News in a phone interview that she wants Barney moved to a 24-hour care facility in Mississippi, where she lives and where he grew up, so that he can be surrounded by family members, including nieces, nephews and cousins, plus friends. In Mississippi, Barney can “live a better life than what he’s got” in Texas, she said.
Munger said the move is possible, but he is trying to work out the finances and logistics of a medevac for Barney.
Lemuel III, meanwhile, told the court that he wants his father to remain in Texas and for the NFL to pay for around-the-clock care there.
Munger said they already tried Barney living at the Texas home with family, and it resulted in criminal charges and a neglect investigation.
Barney’s next move will likely be his last, Munger told the court.
The first lawsuits by players against the NFL over the long-term impact of concussions were filed in 2011, and Barney quickly became one of the prominent plaintiffs in a case that eventually included thousands of former players and family members.
By early 2013, Barney had become among the most outspoken former players about the dangers of the game. Flanked by University of Michigan football coach Brady Hoke and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, he told high schoolers at a camp in Southfield that if he had it to do all over again, he wouldn’t have played football, citing the damage to his brain.
“People often ask me: Do I miss the game? Do I wish I could still play with all the money they’re making today?” Barney told the campers, citing the size and speed of today’s pro players. “Even with all of that, I’d say, ‘Heck, no.’
“The game is becoming more deadly today.”
With that, Barney predicted professional football might be gone within 20 years.
Under increasing pressure, a landmark settlement between the NFL and former players was approved in 2015, and it could eventually pay former players and families more than $1 billion in compensation and health care expenses. A local law firm that represented Barney in the concussion case declined to comment on the amount of Barney’s settlement, saying that information is confidential.
Depending on when Barney was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s, as deemed satisfactory by the concussion settlement board, his payout could’ve been worth slightly more than $700,000, minus attorney fees, and was not subject to taxation.
In March 2022, LaTrece Barney tried to file for a divorce between her dad and stepmother, but O’Brien ruled she did not unilaterally have that power since Barney had several guardians.
LaTrece alleged in court documents that Jacqueline misappropriated money from Barney’s accounts and pension. Lemuel III also echoed that concern on Aug. 17.
Bing also expressed concerns in court documents in March 2022 that Jacqueline had not set up a conservator account, as ordered by the court in December 2021, and that several of Barney’s accounts had been zeroed out. At that point, Barney had been in Texas for seven months and was not in Jacqueline’s care.
Bing and LaTrece told the court that Jacqueline had called police more than 50 times since 2014, claiming “(little people)” were living in her attic and people were burrowing into her home through the foundation. Deputies were so concerned with her mental state that they contacted Adult Protective Services, according to court records.
LaTrece also called Adult Protective Services on Jacqueline in spring 2021, but the complaint that Barney was being physically harmed was found to be without merit, according to court records.
LaTrece and Lemuel III, who also didn’t respond for comment, tried to become Jacqueline’s guardians in 2021, but the petition was denied by a judge after a guardian ad litem did not think it was needed. Jacqueline told the guardian ad litem she thought the filing was retaliatory and only done because the kids wanted control of their father and his money, according to the guardian ad litem’s report.
“LaTrece Barney will do whatever it takes to get Lem Barney’s money,” Jacqueline told the guardian ad litem, according to their report. She said the children are trying to get her out of the way so they can “abscond with the concussion settlement money.”
Jacqueline was put under guardianship and conservatorship in May because of concerns about her capacity to care for herself, according to court records. Her sisters were concerned about her living conditions, erratic behaviors and rapid weight loss, according to an emergency guardian ad litem report in May.
According to Carter, Barney’s sister, Jacqueline wants to be with Barney wherever he goes, so long as it’s not Texas. Carter said Jacqueline would move to Mississippi if that’s where Barney ends up.
If Barney ends up staying in Texas, Bing asked O’Brien if he would consider making Lemuel III a guardian because he was in-state and in regular contact with his father.
O’Brien said on Aug. 17 that he had some concerns but was “open to considering Lem III.”
In spring 1978, Barney’s voice was heard on a wiretap discussing cocaine and amphetamines. Although he wasn’t the focus of the investigation and wasn’t charged, the Lions put him on the injured list just before the 1978-79 season, and he was officially released by the Lions in 1979. He retired at the age of 33.
Less than two years later, he entered the Lions’ Hall of Fame, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him No. 97 on the list of the 100 greatest football players.
In 2004, Lem Barney Jr.’s No. 20 was retired by the Lions in a joint ceremony for two other men who wore the number, Barry Sanders and Billy Sims.
In retirement, Barney held multiple corporate jobs and did some television color commentary for Lions preseason games, in addition to his charity work, for which he earned great praise. He also has acting and singing credits, the latter thanks to his friendship with the late Motown icon, Marvin Gaye, on whose hit single “What’s Goin’ On,” Barney and Farr can be heard singing backup.
During Barney’s Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement, former coach Jim David noted that “the kids of Special Olympics knew him, the kids at children’s hospitals knew him. United Way, Easter Seals, the United Negro College Fund and the Boy Scouts of America. Lem Barney gave back and continues to give back much more than he ever took from football.”
Barney cited scripture and remarked that he felt his athletic gifts were manifest from God.
“Life does not always deal us a fair hand, but the hands that life deals us, we must play them,” he said. “Life has been good to me, and if I die tonight, I wouldn’t die blue because I have experienced great things in life.
“Love, I believe, is our most motivating factor we could have in life … love — our most powerful, powerful weapon.”