Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley

Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963 in Leeds) is a world-famous basketball player. He was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA in 1993. In 1996, the NBA's 50th anniversary, he was named one of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History". Barkley won the Olympic gold medal with the U.S. Dream Teams in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.

As a player, Barkley is best remembered for his tenacity and rebounding skills, despite his relative lack of height. He was also a prolific scorer and a consummate team player. He had high career totals in scoring, rebounding, and assists. He is also famous for his bold behavior and often controversial statements off the court. He is one of only a few NBA players to have a figure published by Kenner's "Starting Lineup" toy line and to also have his own signature shoe line by Nike. He currently resides in Arizona.

Career

Auburn

Barkley in 1983

Barkley played college basketball at Auburn University for three years where, although he was overweight, he excelled as a player, being named All-SEC and leading the league in rebounding each year. He mainly played center, despite his height, which is generally thought to be less than the "official" figure of 6'-6". His nickname "The Round Mound of Rebound" dates back to his college career.

76ers

He left Auburn after his junior year to begin playing in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers, filling the spot left by Julius Erving on the team. Later teaming with power forward/center Rick Mahorn, the two coined the nickname "Thump and Bump", the Sixers made the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1990 and 1991 but were eliminated by the Chicago Bulls both years. The team reached the playoffs with Barkley every year except for 1988, and 1992. He averaged 24.3 points per game while with the team.

Barkley was a force under the glass, and his aggressiveness often times got him into shoving matches with opponents such as Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O'Neal, and Charles Oakley. His 1990 fight with Detroit Pistons center Bill Laimbeer created headlines.

During his last season in Philadelphia, Barkley wore #32 instead of 34 in honor of Magic Johnson, who had announced prior to the start of the season that he was HIV-positive. The 76ers had retired the number 32 in honor of Billy Cunningham, who gave his permission for Barkley to make the gesture. Barkley took the opportunity to make a rare apology, rebuking himself for having made fun of AIDS sufferers.

Suns

After joining Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and friend Michael Jordan for the "Dream Team" that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Barkley was traded to the Suns, where he became a vital part of the team's trip to the 1993 NBA Finals, scoring 25 points per game and becoming one of the most popular players on the team. At the Finals, Barkley and the Suns lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games, after Barkley had told Jordan that it was destiny for the Suns to win the championship. Barkley would never again play in the Finals.

In 1994, the Suns lost in the Western semi-finals in 7 games to the eventual NBA champion Houston Rockets. In 1995, the Suns suffered exactly the same fate. In 1996, Barkley and the Suns struggled to a 41-41 record, having to win 13 games in a row at the end to squeeze out a playoff spot. Following a public dispute with team owner Jerry Colangelo, Barkley was traded to the Houston Rockets. Barkley's #34 jersey was retired by the Suns in 2004.

Rockets

Before joining the Rockets, Barkley played for the gold medal winning American team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He then joined teammates Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in Houston. As a member of the Rockets, Barkley faced nagging back injury problems, which ultimately led to his retirement from the NBA in 2000. In his last year he averaged 14 points a game over 19 outings before tearing his left quadriceps tendon completely away from his kneecap during a game on December 8, 1999. He was told by doctors that he would never play again in the NBA, but was able to come back a little over four months later, for exactly one game, scoring a basket in front of Houston's home fans on April 19, 2000 against the Vancouver Grizzlies. Barkley retired immediately after that game.

During his career in the NBA, Barkley totaled 23,757 points for an average of 23 per game, and 12,546 rebounds, for an average of 11.7 per game. He was an All-Star nine times, and he helped his teams to the playoffs every year he played.

Controversy

During his stint as a member of the Suns, Barkley was controversial and outspoken. He was rumored to have dated Madonna, and he became a favorite of late-night TV talk shows. He published a pair of equally controversial books (Outrageous! and Sir Charles: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles Barkley). He was in the middle of many lawsuits. One of the most infamous lawsuit involving Barkley was in incident where he threw a man through a glass window during an altercation at an Orlando restaurant. When asked if he had any regrets about throwing the man through the window, Barkley said "I regret we weren't on a higher floor."

Current status

Barkley now works as a studio analyst on Inside The NBA for Turner Network Television and plays at celebrity golf tournaments. He made several appearances in the short-lived series "Clerks. He also went one-on-one with Godzilla in a Nike commercial which has a tie-in comic published by Dark Horse. He appeared alongside Michael Jordan in the hit movie Space Jam and had cameos in the movies Hot Shots! and Look Who's Talking Now.

At a July 2006 meeting of the Southern Regional Conference of the National School Boards Association in Destin, Florida, Barkley lent credence to the idea of his running for Governor of Alabama: "I'm serious. I've got to get people to realize that the government is full of it. Republicans and Democrats want to argue over stuff that's not important, like gay marriage or the war in Iraq or illegal immigration. ... When I run - if I run - we're going to talk about real issues like improving our schools, cleaning up our neighborhoods of drugs and crime and making Alabama a better place for all people." (Dean-2006)

References

• "Charles Barkley." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 25 Jul 2006, 15:57 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 26 Jul 2006 [1].
• Dean, Charles J. (July 26, 2006) "Barkley may run in 2010". Birmingham News.
• Washington, Jesse (February 12, 2015) "Up From Leeds: The people, the place and the privilege that made Charles Barkley a role model" ESPN.com

External links

• ClutchFans.net Charles Barkley Profile - Houston Rocket Fan Site
• A collection of quotes of or relating to Charles Barkley