Barnett, Douglas E., 1954-

Employee with the University of Michigan Mail Service and avid supporter of University of Michigan hockey. Barnett was a founding member of the Dekers club, a hockey booster group. Barnett organized the Dekers Hockey Hall of Fame and published the club's newsletter and organized reunions. He was the official timer for hockey games from 1958 to 1983.

Text of January 1991 induction of Barnett into the Dekers Hall of Fame:

Doug was born and raised in Ann Arbor in the shadows of the Old Coliseum. It's no wonder his first love of sports is hockey. He skated there as a youngster and saw his first Michigan hockey game when Eddie Lowrey was still coaching. He has seen seven of the eight Michigan hockey coaches in action.

Dubbed "Mr. Michigan Hockey" several years ago by Michigan's Sports Information Department, Doug has followed Michigan hockey since 1945, when he would stand in line at the Old Coliseum to get his favorite seat behind the Michigan bench.

In 1958, Doug was asked by Don Weir, athletic ticket manager, to fill in as official timer, a position he held for twenty five years, retiring in 1983. In all these years as timer, he only missed six games for personal reasons.

Doug also served as official timer for all Ann Arbor Pioneer High School hockey games for seventeen years.

In 1962 Doug, along with eleven other loyal Michigan hockey fans, organized "The Dekers", a boosters club for Michigan Hockey. As a charter member, he served as the club's first secretary-treasurer and was honored by the members as the third recipient of the "Deker of the Year" award in 1965.

For over fifteen years Doug edited and published the Deker Newsletter, making sure all former Michigan hockey players received this newsletter six times a season. He also has been very active in organizing team reunions, including the big "Reunion of 1980" in Colorado at the Broadmoor Hotel.

One of Doug's special projects for the Dekers was obtaining all the team pictures for the lobby in Yost Ice Arena. He also was responsible for initiating the Dekers Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965, and has served on this committee all these years as its chairperson.

Doug timed the first collegiate hockey game ever played in Cobo Hall in Detroit when Michigan played the University of Toronto in 1962. He also timed the last hockey game in the Old Coliseum and the first game ever played in Yost Ice Arena. He still remembers Frank Werner scoring the first goal in Yost Ice Arena.

He has had many memorable Michigan hockey experiences and one that stands out was being in the locker room in Utica, NY during the 1962 NCAA Hockey Finals and coach Al Renfrew announced that Red Berenson would be playing his next game for the Montreal Canadiens.

Another high on his list was watching Michigan beat Denver in Denver for the 1964 NCAA Championship and having been adopted by the team as "Ambassador at Large".

The countless number of lifetime friends Doug has made through Michigan hockey is very special to him and he is "in his glory" whenever one may call or stop in Ann Arbor for a visit. They remain his closest friends today.

Doug and his wife Judy have five children; Nancy, Lucy, Trudi, Shelly, and Bill, and have four grandchildren.