A 1969 graduate of Paulsboro High School, Gene Barber's connection with wrestling spanned over 40 years before he retired as Absegami High School's head coach following the 2010 season.

Barber achieved success at the high school level as a District 29 champion and received the Outstanding Wrestler award for the tournament. A third-place finisher in Region 8 as a senior, in the days when only the champion advanced to the state tournament, Barber went on to more success at the next level when he finished second in the Junior College Nationals for Camden County College in 1971. More success followed him at Trenton State College (The College of New Jersey today) where he was a two-time College Division All-American, placing third in the NCAA Division III Championships in 1972 and 1973. He earned a trip to the NCAA Division I Championships as a senior and finished second.

The chance to excel at yet another level arrived when he was hired as a physical education teacher and head wrestling coach at Absegami High School for the 1977-78 school year. Over a span of 33 years as the head coach at Absegami, Barber's teams compiled a 507-137-4 record. His teams won four New Jersey State Group IV championships and 18 Cape-Atlantic League titles. Absegami was the No. 1 team in the state in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the country. In successive years from 2001 through 2004, Barber's teams went 22-0, 21-0-1, 23-0 and 23-0.

Barber had six South Jersey Group IV sectional championships, eight New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association individual state champions, 16 100-win wrestlers, 46 regional champions, and 129 district champions.

He was honored as a Region 8 Coach of the Year five times and was also selected as New Jersey Coach of the Year once. The 2004 USA Wrestling Man of the Year, he received a Unico Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. Additional honors bestowed on Barber were inductions into the South Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame, Paulsboro High School Sports Hall of Fame, Camden County College Hall of Fame, TCNJ Hall of Fame, National Junior College Hall of Fame and Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame.

His legacy will remain within the NJ Scholastic Wrestling Community.