Background and career
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT Sports and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Chuckster", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Though shorter than the typical power forward, he used his strength and aggression to become one of the NBA's best rebounders and scorers. Barkley was an 11-time NBA All-Star, 11-time member of the All-NBA Team, and the 1993 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was named to the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams. An All-American at Auburn University, Barkley was drafted as a junior by the Philadelphia 76ers with the fifth pick of the 1984 NBA draft. In his rookie season, Barkley was named to the All-Rookie First Team in 1985. In the 1986–87 season, Barkley led the league in rebounding average and earned his first rebounding title. He was named the All-Star Game MVP in 1991, and in 1993 with the Phoenix Suns, he was voted the league's MVP while leading the team to the NBA Finals. He also competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, winning two gold medals as a member of the U.S. national team. In 2000, Barkley retired as the fourth player in NBA history to achieve 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists. Barkley is a two-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, inducted in 2006 for his individual career and in 2010 as a member of the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team". Barkley was popular with the fans and media and made the NBA's All-Interview Team for his last 13 seasons in the league. He was frequently involved in on- and off-court fights and sometimes stirred national controversy, such as in March 1991 when he spat on a young girl while attempting to spit at a heckler, and 1993 when he declared that sports figures should not be considered role models. Since retiring as a player, Barkley has had a successful career as an NBA analyst. He works for TNT Sports on Inside the NBA alongside Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson as a studio pundit (for which he has won five Sports Emmy Awards). In addition, Barkley has written several books, and has shown an interest in politics.
Barkley was born in Leeds, Alabama, 17 miles (27 km) east of Birmingham, and grew up there. He was the first black baby born at a segregated, all-white town hospital and was in the first group of black students at his elementary school. His parents divorced when he was young after his father abandoned the family, which included younger brother Darryl Barkley. His mother remarried and they had a son, John Glenn. Another brother, Rennie, died in infancy. His stepfather was killed in an accident when Charles was 11 years old. Barkley attended Leeds High School. As a junior, he stood 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and weighed 220 pounds (100 kg). He failed to make the varsity team and was named as a reserve. However, during the summer Barkley grew to 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and earned a starting position on the varsity as a senior. He averaged 19.1 points and 17.9 rebounds per game and led his team to a 26–3 record en route to the state semi-finals. Despite his improvement, Barkley received no attention from college scouts until the state high school semi-finals, where he scored 26 points against Alabama's most highly recruited player, Bobby Lee Hurt. An assistant to Auburn University's head coach, Sonny Smith, was at the game and reported seeing, "a fat guy... who can play like the wind". Barkley was soon recruited by Smith and majored in business management while attending Auburn University.
Barkley played collegiate basketball for the Auburn Tigers for three seasons. Although he struggled to control his weight, he excelled as a player and led the SEC in rebounding each year. He became a popular crowd-pleaser, exciting the fans with dunks and blocked shots that belied his lack of height and overweight frame. It was not uncommon to see the hefty Barkley grab a defensive rebound and, instead of passing, dribble the entire length of the court and finish at the opposite end with a two-handed dunk. His physical size and skills ultimately earned him the nickname "The Round Mound of Rebound" and the "Crisco Kid". During his college career, Barkley played center, despite being shorter than the average center. His height, officially listed as 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), is stated as 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) in his book, I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It. He became a member of Auburn's All-Century team and still holds the Auburn record for career field goal percentage with 62.6%. He received numerous awards, including Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Year (1984), three All-SEC selections and one Second Team All-American selection. Later, Barkley was named the SEC Player of the Decade for the 1980s by the Birmingham Post-Herald. In Barkley's three-year college career, he averaged 14.1 points on 62.6% field goal shooting, 9.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.7 blocks per game. In 1984, he led the Tigers to their first NCAA tournament in school history and finished with 23 points on 80% field goal shooting, 17 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. Auburn retired Barkley's No. 34 jersey on March 3, 2001.
He was one of 74 college players invited to the spring tryouts for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team coached by Bob Knight. Barkley made the initial cut in April to the final 20, but was one of four released in May (with John Stockton, Terry Porter, and Maurice Martin) in the penultimate cut to 16 players. In 2010, Barkley admitted that he asked for and had been given, money from sports agents during his career at Auburn. Barkley called the sums he had requested from agents "chump change", and went on to say, "Why can't an agent lend me some money and I'll pay him back when I graduate?" According to Barkley, he paid back all of the money he had borrowed after signing his first NBA contract.
Barkley left before his final year at Auburn and made himself eligible for the 1984 NBA draft. He was selected with the fifth pick in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers, two slots after the Chicago Bulls drafted Michael Jordan. He joined a veteran team that included Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Maurice Cheeks, players who had taken Philadelphia to the 1983 NBA championship. Under the tutelage of Malone, Barkley was able to manage his weight and learned to prepare and condition himself properly for a game; Barkley cited Malone as the most influential player of his career, and he often referred to him as "Dad". He averaged 14.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game during the regular season and earned a berth on the All-Rookie Team. In the postseason, the Sixers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals but were defeated in five games by the Boston Celtics. As a rookie in the postseason, Barkley averaged 14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. During his second year, Barkley improved his game under the leadership of Moses Malone during the off-season with his workouts, in the process he became the team's leading rebounder and number two scorer, averaging 20.0 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. He became the Sixers' starting power forward and helped lead his team into the playoffs, averaging 25.0 points on .578 shooting from the field and 15.8 rebounds per game. Despite his efforts, Philadelphia was defeated 4–3 by the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He was named to the All-NBA Second Team.
Before the 1986–87 season, Moses Malone was traded to the Washington Bullets and Barkley began to assume control as the team leader. On November 4, 1986, Barkley recorded 34 points, 10 rebounds, and a career-high 14 assists in a 125–121 loss to the Indiana Pacers. On March 20, 1987, Barkley recorded 26 points, 25 rebounds (including a career-high-tying 16 offensive rebounds), and nine assists in a 116–106 win over the Denver Nuggets. He earned his first and only rebounding title, averaging 14.6 rebounds per game, and also led the league in offensive rebounds with 5.7 per game. He averaged 23.0 points on .594 shooting, earning his first trip to an NBA All-Star game and All-NBA Second Team honors for the second straight season. In the playoffs, Barkley averaged 24.6 points and 12.6 rebounds in a losing effort, for the second straight year, to the Bucks in a five-game first-round playoff series. The next season, Julius Erving announced his retirement and Barkley became the Sixers' franchise player. On November 30, 1988, Barkley recorded 41 points, 22 rebounds, five assists, and six steals in a 114–106 win over the Blazers. Playing in 80 games and getting 300 more minutes than his nearest teammate, Barkley had his most productive season, averaging 28.3 points on .587 shooting and 11.9 rebounds per game. He appeared in his second All-Star Game and was named to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career. His celebrity status as the Sixers' franchise player led to his first appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated. For the first time since the 1974–75 season, however, the 76ers failed to make the playoffs. In the 1988–89 season, Barkley continued to play well, averaging 25.8 points on .579 shooting and 12.5 rebounds per game. He earned his third straight All-Star Game appearance and was named to the All-NBA First team for the second straight season. Despite Barkley contributing 27.0 points on .644 shooting, 11.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, the 76ers were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the New York Knicks. During the 1989–90 season, despite receiving more first-place votes, Barkley finished second in MVP voting behind the Los Angeles Lakers' Magic Johnson. He was named Player of the Year by The Sporting News and Basketball Weekly. He averaged 25.2 points and 11.5 rebounds per game and a career-high .600 shooting. He was named to the All-NBA First Team for the third consecutive year and earned his fourth All-Star selection. He helped Philadelphia win 53 regular-season games, only to lose to the Chicago Bulls in a five-game Eastern Conference Semi-finals series. Barkley averaged 24.7 points and 15.5 rebounds in another postseason loss. His exceptional play continued into his seventh season, where he averaged 27.6 points on .570 shooting and 10.1 rebounds per game. His fifth straight All-Star Game appearance proved to be his best yet. He led the East to a 116–114 win over the West with 17 points and 22 rebounds, the most rebounds in an All-Star Game since Wilt Chamberlain recorded 22 in 1967. Barkley was presented with Most Valuable Player honors at the All-Star Game and, at the end of the season, named to the All-NBA First Team for the fourth straight year. That year, when the New York Times asked the San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson if he would choose Barkley or Jordan for his side in a hypothetical pickup game, Robinson said, "I would pick Barkley. When he is on his game, I think he has the biggest impact ever." In the playoffs, Philadelphia lost again to Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, with Barkley contributing 24.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. The 1991–92 season was Barkley's final year in Philadelphia. In his last season, he wore number 32 instead of his 34 to honor Magic Johnson, who had announced prior to the start of the season that he was HIV-positive. Although the 76ers had initially retired the number 32 in honor of Billy Cunningham, it was unretired, with Cunningham's approval, for Barkley to wear. After Johnson's announcement, Barkley apologized for having made light of his condition. Responding to concerns that players may contract HIV by contact with Johnson, Barkley expressed his opinion, "We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic." In his final season with the Sixers, averaging 23.1 points on .552 shooting and 11.1 rebounds per game, Barkley earned his sixth-straight All-Star appearance and was named to the All-NBA Second Team, his seventh straight appearance on either the first or second team. He ended his 76ers career ranked fourth in team history in total points (14,184), third in scoring average (23.3 ppg), third in rebounds (7,079), eighth in assists (2,276) and second in field-goal percentage (.576). He led Philadelphia in rebounding and field-goal percentage for seven consecutive seasons and in scoring for six straight years. However, Barkley was said to have demanded a trade out of Philadelphia after the Sixers failed to make the postseason with a 35–47 record. That was later refuted by Charles Barkley himself, who said that he had not demanded a trade, but was not happy and wanted out. Rather than wait until his contract ran out and lose their superstar for nothing, the 76ers traded him. Barkley was initially traded to the Los Angeles Lakers before the end of the season, but the 76ers wound up retracting their deal a few hours later. On July 17, 1992, he was officially traded to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang. During Barkley's eight seasons in Philadelphia, he became a household name and was one of the few NBA players to have an action figure produced by Kenner's Starting Lineup toy line. He also had his own signature shoe line with Nike. His outspoken and aggressive play, however, resulted in some on-court incidents, notoriously a fight with Detroit Pistons center Bill Laimbeer in 1990, which drew a record total $162,500 fine.
