Charles Barkley
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| Position: | Power Forward |
| College: | Auburn |
| NBA draft: | 1984, 1st 5th overall, Philadelphia 76ers |
| Pro career: | 15 seasons |
| Hall of Fame: | 2006 |
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Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963 in Leeds, Alabama) is a former American basketball power forward. A current resident of Arizona, Barkley is commonly nicknamed Sir Charles and occasionally The Round Mound of Rebound. Barkley 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 Games. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Barkley is best remembered for his tenacity and ruggedness for rebounds, despite his relative lack of height. Besides being one of the best rebounders ever, 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 behavior and often controversial statements off the court.
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Career
Barkley played college basketball for Auburn University for three years where he excelled as a player, being named All-SEC and leading the league in rebounding each year. He mainly played center at Auburn, despite being far shorter than normal for the position; he is listed as 6 ft 6in, but was actually about 6'4" or 6'5". In 1984, he left Auburn a year early to begin playing in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers. Early in his career, Barkley had a weight problem, sometimes weighing over 136 kg (300 pounds) at Auburn. His nickname of "The Round Mound of Rebound" dates back to his Auburn days. He battled those problems, however, and was able to fill 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, when he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. While with the Sixers, Barkley was a force underneath the glass, and his aggressiveness often times got him into fights with players such as Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O'Neal, and Charles Oakley.
In between being drafted and traded, Barkley became a household name, and he was one of a few NBA players to have a figure published by Kenner's Starting Lineup toy line and also have his own signature shoe line by Nike. But he also became involved in a few scandals, notoriously a fight with Detroit Pistons center Bill Laimbeer in 1990. He averaged 24.3 points per game while with the 76ers.
After joining Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and friend Michael Jordan for the 1992 U.S. Dream Team that won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics, Barkley went 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 ever among Suns fans. At the Finals, Barkley and the Suns lost to Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and 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 return to the Finals.
In 1994, Barkley again was part of a Suns team that almost won the NBA championship, losing in the Western semi-finals in 7 games to eventual NBA champions the Houston Rockets. In 1995, the Suns suffered exactly the same fate in the playoffs as the year before. 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. He also was a member of the gold medal winning American team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
Barkley was then traded to the Houston Rockets, where he joined Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in their quest to win championships. However, Olajuwon had already won two (1994, 1995), and Drexler one in 1995, which led people to believe that Barkley was the one who was really trying. But as a member of the Rockets, Barkley faced back injury problems, which ultimately led to his retirement in 2000. His last year in the NBA, he averaged 14 points a game over 19 games 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, Barkey totalled 23,757 points for an average of 23 points per game, and 12,546 rebounds, for an average of 11.7 rebounds per game. He was an All-Star nine times, and he helped his teams to the playoffs every year he played.
Barkley ranked #19 in SLAM magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of all time in 2003.
Additional information
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), and he was rumored to plan to run for Governor of Alabama. He was in the middle of many lawsuits. And, to top it all, he and Suns owner Jerry Colangelo became involved in a very public dispute during his last year as a Sun.
Later on, Barkley and Colangelo had seemingly cleared up their differences. On March 20, 2004, in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Barkley's number 34 jersey was retired by the Suns, as he joined Connie Hawkins, Tom Chambers, and Kevin Johnson in the Suns Ring of Honor.
One of the most infamous cases involving Barkley in a lawsuit was one where, according to an Orlando man, he threw the man through a glass window during an altercation at an Orlando restaurant. Tired of people's accusations, Barkley, who is accessible to the public for autographs and hand-shaking most of the time, limited his accessibility to the public to not much more than that. 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."
Barkley now works as a studio analyst on Inside The NBA for TNT and plays at celebrity golf tournaments.
Charles Barkley also made several appearances in the short-lived series Clerks.
He also went one-on-one with Godzilla in the Nike commercial (and a tie-in comic published by Dark Horse Comics).
During the 1991-1992 season, his last in Philadelphia, Barkley wore number 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 un-retired it for Barkley to wear. Also, in a very un-Charles like behavior, he rebuked himself for having made fun of people for having HIV. (This was due to Magic, one of Charles' best friends, having HIV).
On Magic Johnson's return to basketball: "We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic."
He appeared alongside Michael Jordan in the hit movie Space Jam. He also had a tiny cameo in the movie Hot Shots! and Look Who's Talking Now.
Hosted the season premiere of the long-running NBC late night comedy show "Saturday Night Live" on September 25, 1993, with musical guest Nirvana.
Charles Barkley has maintained his popularity from his playing days with his colorful analysis on the hit TNT television show of Inside the NBA. The show has also won Emmy awards and has become renowned for Barkley's blunt yet humourous analysis.
In 2005, Barkley released the book Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?, which is a collection of interviews with leading figures in entertainment, business, sports, and government.
The name of the band Gnarls Barkley is an homage to the former player.
See also
External links
- NBA.com Player Card - Career Statistics
- A collection of quotes of or relating to Charles Barkley
| 1992 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball – "Dream Team" |
|---|
| Charles Barkley | Larry Bird | Clyde Drexler | Patrick Ewing | Magic Johnson | Michael Jordan Christian Laettner | Karl Malone | Chris Mullin | Scottie Pippen | David Robinson | John Stockton |
| Coach: Chuck Daly |
| 1996 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball - United States |
| Charles Barkley | Penny Hardaway | Grant Hill | Karl Malone | Reggie Miller | Hakeem Olajuwon | Shaquille O'Neal | Gary Payton | Scottie Pippen | Mitch Richmond | David Robinson | John Stockton | Dominique Wilkins | |
| Coach Lenny Wilkens |
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Categories: 1963 births | American basketball players | African American basketball players | Auburn Tigers men's basketball players | Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics | Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics | Houston Rockets players | Living people | National Basketball Association broadcasters | Olympic competitors for the United States | People from Birmingham, Alabama | Philadelphia 76ers players | Phoenix Suns players | Basketball Hall of Fame