Kirk retired from General Motors Corporation in 1992. He was a personnel manager with GM's Service Parts Operations, with responsibility for education and training. He joined General Motors in 1963 after graduating from The University of Michigan-Flint with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. Phil Barnes serves as supervisor of football officials for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. This will be his sixth season serving in that capacity.
Barnes has a deep background in football officiating.
Since 1964 he has also worked games at the NCAA Division II and III and NAIA levels. His officiating experience includes numerous bowl games as well as seven NCAA playoff games during a 20 year Division I career. He also has officiated football games in France, England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Finland and in a China-American Football Tour in 1991. Barnes has also been active in high school athletics, serving on Michigan High School Athletic Association's football and basketball tournament selection committees. After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in Administration and Supervision from Eastern Michigan University, Barnes spent 30 years in the Milan, Mich., school system as an administrator.