The Amazing Life And Career of Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley was a power forward that spent 16 years playing for the NBA between 1984 and 2000. Despite never winning an NBA championship title, Barkley was named on both the 50th and 75th NBA anniversary teams. He is widely considered to be one of the best power forwards to ever play the game.
Barkley won two Olympic gold medals for Team USA, was an NBA rebound leader, and won the IMB award three times.
However, Barkley will probably be remembered for his controversies and for his confrontational manner which he displayed both on and off the pitch. He often got in trouble for arguing that sports players should not be viewed as role models.
Today, we are going to take a closer look at Barkley’s life and career so far.
Before The NBA
Barkley was born on February 20, 1963 in Leeds, Alabama. The town he was born into had previously been a segregated all-white town. He was the first black baby to be born in the town’s hospital and he was part of the first year of black students to be allowed into the town’s school.
Barkley did not make his high school basketball team until his senior year. Despite playing well and scoring a lot, many coaches considered him overweight and had no interest in scouting him.
During a high school match at the very end of the season, Barkley was spotted by a coach from Auburn, who was there scouting someone else. The coach went back to the university and said they had to recruit the “fat kid who could run like the wind.”
While playing in college, Barkley played in the center position. He was shorter than the average center at 6″4 and he struggled to keep his weight down during his education.
However, he soon became a fan favorite due to how well and fast he moved. He claimed that people always underestimated him and that’s what made him look so impressive.
With Auburn, Barkley won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and was named SEC player of the year in 1984. He was named on the All-SEC team every year that he played and made it onto the Second All-American team too.
In 1986, he tried out for the USA Olympic team, he made it to the final 20, but was cut from the team of 16 that went to the competition.
He left college after his junior year and entered the 1984 Draft.
The NBA Years
Barkely was picked 5th overall in the 1984 NBA Draft.
He was picked by the Philadelphia 76ers who he ended up playing with for 8 years.
In that first year the team went to the NBA Finals but did not win. For Barkley the most important thing that happened to him during his time with the 76ers was meeting Moses Malone.
Malone helped Barkley take control of his health and was a huge influence in his life. Barkley called Malone “dad” – he had never known his real father and his step-father had been killed when he was 11.
Two years later, Malone was traded to another club and Barkley took over as leader of the team on the court. That year he earned his first of 11 All-Star call ups.
Despite many amazing seasons with the 76ers, while Barkley was playing with them they did not make it to the Finals again and struggled to make it to the playoffs for many years.
At one point Barkley was banned for spitting at a fan. The fan had been shouting racial slurs at him, Barkley spat at the fan, missed and accidentally spat on a young girl. Barkley, the girl, and her family ended up becoming close friends and he said they taught him a lot of lessons about how he conducted himself as a player.
Barkley then spent 4 years with the Suns. He had a high scoring run with the Suns but injured his back two years in.
The Suns are currently predicted to win the NBA Playoffs this postseason – find the best NBA betting odds here.
After a 41-41 season, the Suns traded 5 players, including Barkley to the Rockets.
Barkley played in Houston for 4 years. Eventually retiring after multiple injuries.
When Barkley retired, he was the fourth ever player to join the 20K/10K/4K Club – 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists. The other three members of the club were Walt Chamberlain, Karl Malone, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Since then Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and LeBron James have joined the club too.