Big John Barker, John Austin to his family, is no stranger to the citizens of Jena. Actually, he could be described as a hometown celebrity. He is the friendly face that greets customers at the local hardware store and helps locate everything from garden tools to plumbing parts. He’s a diehard fan of the Jena Giants football team and at the onset of this season is beginning his 17th straight year as team manager. If that’s not enough, he’s an avid hunter, an active fisherman and a You-Tube and Facebook star who has appeared on renowned outdoor hunting shows such as Mark Drury Outdoors. He also records and posts “Big John’s Outdoors” on both YouTube and Facebook and has a faithful fanbase. To top it all off, Big John has overcome the challenge of being born with two holes in his heart and a rare disease called Jacobson’s Syndrome, not that he’s ever let any obstacle keep him from reaching his dreams.

A 2012 graduate of Jena High School, Big John is a faithful Jena Giants athletic fan and supporter, and has only missed one or two of the school’s football games since he assumed the team manager role while he was attending high school. As manager, he spends every Tuesday and Thursday working with the football team keeping them hydrated by filling up water bottles and ensuring they have clean workout clothes. He helps keep the team focused and ready to play at home games and outof-town games.

“I do mainly water (filling the water bottles) and I do workout clothes. When all the players get done with workouts, I wash their clothes,” he explained. “We have our first practice of the year soon. I like being busy!”

He particularly likes Head Coach Jay Roark, saying, “I love him to death!” and bragging on the coach with such accolades as “He’s a great fellow… he’s awesome!” Big John is hoping that Coach Roark will let him be a manager of the Jena Giants Football team “all of his life!” He knows he’s in the coach’s favor because as the JG football team manager, Coach has provided him with a team t-shirt and shorts, that’s in addition to the Nike pullover with the JG logo on it.

“The games are very exciting, especially the touchdowns,” Big John said smiling broadly. “I’m on the sidelines with the players and if I feel like it, I run onto the field with them (at the beginning of the games).”

He’s already fired up for the first three home games on September 6th, 13th and 20th, against the Mangham Dragons, the Menard Eagles and the St. Fred Warriors respectively, and expressed excitement at soon seeing this year’s team members for the first time in the upcoming days. He’s also anticipating working with the JHS coaching team and back on the sideline helping Coach Roark. According to Big John, the coaches are all awesome.

“I’d like to be a coach one day,” he shared for the first time, laughing at his dad’s surprised reaction. “I have to be honest; I want to be a quarterback coach.”

He recounts a number of memorable JHS football team players he admires from past and present Giants teams, including JaRay Jenkins who played for LSU and who is now playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jenkins invited Big John and his family to watch him play at LSU and gave the young fan the gloves he wore during the game. They took several pictures together afterward. Big John confesses to having “lots of friends” in his hometown that he likes to watch football games with, including Ryan Jones, Mason and Matthew King and Jordan Overstreet. One of his favorite football events is the yearly Bayou Jamb at ULM in Monroe that kicks off the high school football season. It’s an invitation only event and he is on the list.

When Big John’s not on the football field, this young man is pursuing and hunting deer or fishing at his grandpa’s pond in neighboring Catahoula Parish. It was a successful deer hunting venture that yielded a downed deer, and the subsequent celebration video capturing the young hunter’s reaction that his dad, John Jeffery, filmed and posted to YouTube and Facebook that catapulted him to notoriety. The video has had over a million views to date. From there, he has appeared on several outdoor shows and continues in his own home recorded videos on “Big John’s Outdoors” that are posted to YouTube and Facebook. He has hunted deer in Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Missouri, Alabama and Louisiana, and he killed a monster buck in Iowa. Incidentally, it’s his joyful and exuberant reaction after each deer kill that has made him a viral favorite among his fans.

“It’s his reaction after he kills a deer that people like to watch,” his dad shared. “We call him ‘Jena Famous’. He’s always been socially outgoing.”

“I plan to keep on making them (videos),” Big John said, covering a happy laugh with his hand, “It’s good stuff.”

For a young man born with the physical challenges which required multiple cranial facial surgeries and additional heart surgeries, Big John is an exceptional fellow. He loves his younger brother Zach and younger sister Kaitlyn and his mom and dad. He likes Jena “a whole lot” because it’s a “pretty town, it’s friendly and nice.” He comes from a fine family and a has a community base who rallies around him. Whether working on the job, hunting and fishing locally, or going viral with his accomplishments, he always wears an ear-to-ear smile and is proud to be “Jena Famous”!