Jim Barnes, a Cedar Rapids, Ia., native, joined the Navy after high school graduation, serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge for 39- months. As the Korean war ended he was assigned to munitions, fusing bombs and rockets. After three years, 18-months and 16- hours of military service, he spent the next 11- years in radio and television. Barnes worked for outlets in Iowa, Georgia and North Carolina. Most of his employment centered on news and sports. As an investigative reporter, he spent many hours assisting police in Iowa and Georgia. Georgia Tech invited him and four others to audition for their radio play-by-play network, he rejected the audition being uncomfortable in a city that size. At the time he was news director of an Augusta radio station. In his 30s he created a series of tabletop sports board games. They were sold under his trade name “Statis-Pro,” eventually produced by Avalon Hill Game Co, and until 1990 the games were a Sports Illustrated retail product. The Northern Iowa University graduate developed a sports graphic, distributed to newspapers with millions of readers. The feature opened doors for him to write pre- season sports magazines for a New York publisher, under different headings. His last magazine series bore the name of the late “Jimmy the Greek,” a CBS pro football analyst. Turning into his 40s, Barnes hit what he considers the “peak of his career. Dabbling in sports statistics and writing the Las Vegas based “Journal of Handicapping” his Las Vegas reputation soared. Shortly after returning to Iowa he became a consultant for the famed Stardust Race and Sportsbook . He remained with “where the line originates” until it was torn down 11-years later, Barnes is considered in a former New York Times website as the man who propelled Las Vegas into the digital age and many of his methods are still in use today. s that are