(Unfortunately, to celebrate the completion of his training and selection as an astronaut, he was given non-alcoholic champagne, which immediately resulted in a relapse.) For example, when forced to quit drinking while training to be an astronaut, he almost immediately regained his diction and balance and proved to be an exceptional astronaut candidate. In spite of the years of alcoholism, he still appears to maintain some of his great early potential.
It has also been implied that he took to drinking after his high-school sweetheart, Chloe Talbot, left Springfield to become a successful TV reporter.
He was Harvard-bound until Homer introduced him to beer on the night before they had to take the SATs. Barney once had a near-death experience in which he expects to be reunited with 'my loved ones, my dad, and that plant I never watered,' perhaps implying that he did not get along with his father.Īs a teenager, Barney had great potential. His father, Arnie Gumble, was killed in a parade float accident along with Sheldon Skinner, Iggy Wiggum, Etch Westgrin, and Griff McDonald, all of whom had served in Abe Simpson's WWII squad, the Flying Hellfish.
