Charles Barkley

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
	1992 Barcelona	United States
	1996 Atlanta	United States

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 for his position. Besides being one of the best rebounders ever, he was also a prolific scorer and a consummate team player. Despite his high career totals in scoring, rebounding, and assists, Barkley never won an NBA championship. He is also famous for his behavior and often controversial statements off the court.

Career

File:BarkleyAurburn.jpg

A young Charles Barkley, while playing for Auburn University

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 quite shorter than normal for the position; he was listed as 6 ft 6in, but it is actually stated in his book "I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It", that he is closer to 6'4½".

The 76ers

In 1984, he left Auburn a year early to begin playing in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was drafted in the first round as the fifth pick. 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." However, the Sixers made the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1990 and 1991 only to be 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.

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. Following Johnson's announcement, Barkley also rebuked himself for having made fun of people for having HIV. Responding to concerns that players may contract HIV by contact with Johnson, Barkley commented flippantly: "We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic."

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.

The Suns

File:SIDreamTeam.jpg

The original 1992 Dream Team's starters. Top row: Barkley, Ewing, Malone; Bottom row: Johnson, Jordan

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 seven 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.

The Rockets

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 only 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.

Media appearances

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).

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.

He hosted the season premiere of the long-running NBC late night comedy show "Saturday Night Live" on September 25, 1993, with musical guest Nirvana. (Barkley and Nirvana's lead singer, Kurt Cobain, share the same birthday.)

Charles Barkley now works as an analyst in the TNT - Overtime. You can watch him in the shows on www.nba.com

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame

In 1993, Barkley was featured in a very controversial Nike commercial, which centered on him saying the phrase, "I am not a role model". 13 years later, on May 23, 2006, ESPN Classic aired the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame epsiode on Charles Barkley for saying he was not a role model.

The list was: 5) Dan Quayle had recently made his controversial statements about televised "role models" after television character Murphy Brown had become a single mother. Charles Barkley was merely acting as the other side of what was at the time a hot-button cultural debate.

4) Parents Are Passing The Buck - Some statistics show that between 1965 and 1995, working Americans had 6 hours of leisure time per week. A common cultural critique at the time was that that small amount of time was spent in front of the television set, as the TV became a surrogate parent.

3) Nike - It was Nike's ad, to begin with. Nike at the time had a reputation for showcasing the more personal, cerebral side of professional athletes.

2) Don't Be Like Mike - According to the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith, Barkley was the Anti-Jordan. Barkley's "not a role model" aura was just part of his marketing.

1) He Really Wasn't a Role Model - Although many fans belived Barkley candor made him one of the NBA's most lovable players, Barkley's behavior occassionally backed up his claims, like in a game in the 1991-92 season where he once spit on a 9-year old girl in Philadelphia, and a late night incident in Orlando where he threw a person through a window.

Legacy

During his stint as a member of the Suns, Barkley was controversial and outspoken. He was rumored to have dated Madonna (he harkened on those rumors in Space Jam!), 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. In addition, 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 after Dan Majerle suggested that Barkley be put into the "Ring of Honor". 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, Majerle, and Kevin Johnson in the Suns Ring of Honor.

Barkley was also involved in a notorious incident involving a fan, who filed a lawsuit against him. According to an Orlando citizen, he threw a 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, began to limit his accessibility to the public. 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."

Post-basketball life

Inside the NBA

Barkley now works as a studio analyst on Inside The NBA for TNT and plays at celebrity golf tournaments.

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.

Barkley was also the center of controversy regarding up-and-coming Yao Ming. When Yao was drafted as the #1 first-round pick, he was initially met with a lot of disbelief and disdain. Barkley declared, "He's just not ready yet" and also said that he was the "best player in Houston." He even said that he would "kiss Kenny Smith's ass" if Yao scored 20 points a game. Yao scored 20 points in his first game against the Los Angeles Lakers. An embarrassed Barkley kissed a donkey's behind on national television.

Gambling

In an interview with ESPN's Trey Wingo on May 3, 2006, Barkley revealed that he has lost approximately $10 million through gambling. Barkley was already known to be a heavy gambler, but the scope of his problem was not known until the interview.

Book

In 2000, Barkley wrote the foreword for Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly's book "The Life of Reilly." In it Barkley quipped, "Of all the people in sports I'd like to throw through a plate glass window, Reilly's not one of them. It's a shame though, skinny white boy looks real aerodynamic."

In 2002, Barkley released the book "I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It", which included editing and commentary by close friend Michael Wilbon. In 2005, Barkley released "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?", which is a collection of interviews with leading figures in entertainment, business, sports, and government.

Trivia

• During an altercation in a bar in 1997, Barkley threw 20-year-old Jorge Lugo through a plate-glass window. When interviewed by police Barkley reportedly quipped "I regret we weren't on a higher floor." This led to a long standing running gag in Rick Reilly's column which included a year-end award dubbed "The Chuckies" dedicated to people or things in sports that deserved to be thrown through a plate-glass window.
• The name of the hip-hop/soul group Gnarls Barkley was thought to be an homage to the former player, but producer DJ Danger Mouse denied this.
• Supported George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential elections, and John Kerry in 2004.

See also

• NBA Jam

External links

• NBA.com Player Card - Career Statistics
• A collection of quotes of or relating to Charles Barkley