Yearbook photos of Charles Barkley from Leeds High School.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
Yearbook photos of Charles Barkley from Leeds High School.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
1500 Greenwave Dr, Leeds, AL 35094, United States
Yearbook photos of Charles Barkley from Leeds High School.
College/University
Gallery of Charles Barkley
College Basketball: Auburn Charles Barkley (34).
Gallery of Charles Barkley
College Basketball: Auburn Charles Barkley (34).
Career
Gallery of Charles Barkley
1988
3900 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90305, United States
Forward Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers lies on the court with the ball during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
1988
3900 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90305, United States
Charles Barkley #34 of the Philadelphia 76ers stands on the court during the 1988-1989 NBA season game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, California.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
Portrait of Charles Barkley.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
1993
1901 W Madison St, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
NBA Finals: Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan (23) with Phoenix Suns Charles Barkley (34) during game at Chicago Stadium.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
1994
1635 Bryant St, Denver, Colorado, United States
Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns during the Suns versus Denver Nuggets game at the McNicoles Arena in Denver, Colorado.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
1996
201 East Jefferson St, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Charles Barkley #34 of the Phoenix Suns goes for a dunk during the 1996 NBA game against the Boston Celtics at America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
Gallery of Charles Barkley
2010
1901 W Madison St, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
TNT Analysts Charles Barkley, Kennie Smith, and Ernie Johnson talk during halftime of the NBA game between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls on March 25, 2010 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
2016
1 NRG Parkway, Houston, Texas, United States
Charles Barkley looks on prior to the 2016 NCAA Men's Final Four National Championship game between the Villanova Wildcats and the North Carolina Tar Heels at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Gallery of Charles Barkley
Achievements
1992
Dream Team, Barcelona Olympic Games. From left to right: Michael Jordan (9), Patrick Ewing (6), Magic Johnson (10), Karl Malone (7), and Charles Barkley (12).
Membership
Awards
NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
1991
100 Paul Buck Boulevard, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Charles Barkley poses for a photo with his NBA MVP trophy at the Charlotte Coliseum.
Sports Emmy
Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, United States
Charles Barkley and Craig Seger during 27th Annual Sports Emmy Awards at Frederick P. Rose Hall.
3900 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90305, United States
Forward Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers lies on the court with the ball during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California.
3900 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90305, United States
Charles Barkley #34 of the Philadelphia 76ers stands on the court during the 1988-1989 NBA season game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, California.
Dream Team, Barcelona Olympic Games. From left to right: Michael Jordan (9), Patrick Ewing (6), Magic Johnson (10), Karl Malone (7), and Charles Barkley (12).
1901 W Madison St, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
TNT Analysts Charles Barkley, Kennie Smith, and Ernie Johnson talk during halftime of the NBA game between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls on March 25, 2010 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Charles Barkley looks on prior to the 2016 NCAA Men's Final Four National Championship game between the Villanova Wildcats and the North Carolina Tar Heels at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Outrageous!: The Fine Life and Flagrant Good Times of Basketball's Irresistible Force
(The five-time NBA all-star looks back on his life and bas...)
The five-time NBA all-star looks back on his life and basketball career, discussing his opinions on basketball technique and style, the NBA draft, and more.
Sir Charles: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles Barkley
(Outrageous, irreverent quotes from the 1993 NBA Most Valu...)
Outrageous, irreverent quotes from the 1993 NBA Most Valuable Player reveal his far-reaching appraisal of the game, his fellow players, the officials, the writers, and the fans.
(Charles Barkley has never been shy about expressing his o...)
Charles Barkley has never been shy about expressing his opinions. Though he addresses weighty issues in the book with a light touch and prefers to stir people to think by making them laugh, there’s nothing Charles Barkley shies away from here - not race, not class, not big money, not scandal, not politics, not personalities, nothing.
(In this controversial national bestseller, Charles Barkle...)
In this controversial national bestseller, Charles Barkley takes on the major issue of our time. It's a series of charged, in-your-face conversations about race with some of America's most prominent figures, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Ice Cube, Marian Wright Edelman, Tiger Woods, Peter Guber, and Robert Johnson.
Charles Barkley is a former basketball player who was very popular in the 1990s, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. After the retirement, Barkley has become a famous sportscaster making his career as a studio analyst for the TNT network and covering NBA games.
Background
Charles was born on February 20, 1963, in Leeds, Alabama, the United States, to the family of Frank Barkley and Charcey Glenn. At birth, he weighed only six pounds and suffered from anemia to such a degree that he required a complete blood transfusion at six weeks. When the boy took his first steps, Frank Barkley abandoned the family.
Charcey Glenn then went on to remarry, but when Charles was 11, his stepfather died in an accident. Barkley was raised by his mother and grandmother.
Education
Charles Barkley attended Leeds High School where he became passionate about basketball. However, despite his talent, Barkley didn't manage to join the main team because of his height of only 5 feet 10 inches. Only the summer before Barkley's senior year, when he grew up to 6 feet 4 inches, Charles got the opportunity to enter the varsity team and led them to their best record in the school’s history.
When Barkley graduated in 1981, he enrolled at Auburn University pursuing a degree in business administration. There he became part of Auburn’s basketball program, the Auburn Tigers. Out of the three years, Charles topped the SEC rebound charts, became an all-conference selection in each of the three seasons, and earned the nickname “The Round Mound of Rebound.”
In 1984 Barkley entered the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers as the fifth pick in round one. Under the wing of the famous Moses Malone, who was the dominating center and premier offensive rebounder in the NBA, Barkley evolved into a relentless offensive and defensive rebounder.
In his second year, Charles became the 76ers second-highest scorer and the team’s rebound leader and earned a berth in the All-NBA Second Team. In 1986-87, the season when Moses Malone went on to the Washington Bullets, Barkley started to play the role of the team's leader, managed to lead the league at 14.6 rebounds per game, and earned his second successive All-NBA Second Team selection.
During that period Barkley's game expanded considerably and he gained not only a reputation of the unquestioned leader of the 76ers but also was considered to be one of the most quotable players in the league. However, with the exception of a run to the Eastern Conference finals, Barkley and the team never advanced farther than the second round of the playoffs. Barkley became unpopular with the team’s front office and in 1992 he was traded to the Phoenix Suns.
In the first season of 1992/93, Barkley led the Suns to the NBA Finals where they were defeated by the Chicago Bulls. For the next two seasons, suffering from severe back pains, it was difficult for Barkley to show outstanding games. Nonetheless, he led the Suns to the semifinals of the Western Conference in the second season and to the playoffs in the third season. In 1995/96 with the Suns Barkley got 20,000 points and 10,000 rebounds which made him the 10th player to reach the milestone.
As part of the national squad, Barkley won two gold medals at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics and one gold medal at the 1992 FIBA Americas Championship.
In 1996 Barkley moved to the Houston Rockets and it seemed that he found himself on a losing streak. In the Western Conference finals, the Rockets lost to the Utah Jazz. Then Barkley had to miss 14 games during the season because of injury and unfortunately, his game performance suffered greatly during the next season as well. In the 1998/99 season, Barkley was ranked as the second player in the league to reach 23,000 points, 12,000 rebounds, and 4000 points. During that period Charles got one more serious injury. However, he didn't want to finish his career in such a way, and on April 19, 2000, he appeared in a home game against the Vancouver Grizzlies.
After that, without winning an NBA Championship but still on a high note, Barkley retired from professional basketball.
Following the retirement from basketball, Barkley started his career as a TV analyst for Turner News Television (TNT). Since 2001 he has been a co-host for TNT’s Emmy award-winning studio show Inside the NBA, since 2002 - the host of Listen Up. In May 2017, Barkley began hosting American Race.
(Charles Barkley has never been shy about expressing his o...)
2002
Politics
Barkley is well-known as a politically-minded person. In 1995 he considered for the first time to run for Governor in Alabama. However, to lead the state's top office it was necessary to be a resident of the state for at least seven years. The next time he announced his candidacy for Governor of Alabama in 2014 officially. It happened on October 27, 2008.
Barkley said that his main priority would be to improve the educational system which in turn would address the crime issue. In a CNN interview with Campbell Brown, Charles Barkley stated: "The public school system in this country is the worst it has ever been and what that does is that hurts crime, it hurts the judicial system. You know if you don’t give people education and hope, they become criminals. They get involved in drugs. So we have got to fix the public school system." However, in 2010 Barkley changed his mind to run for the post.
When Barkley played basketball, he was one of the few players to support the Republican Party. Then, in 2008, he took the part of Democratic candidate Barack Obama. And during a broadcast on Monday Night Football in 2014, he revealed himself to be an Independent.
Nowadays, Barkley has been a frequent critic of Donald Trump. Once he described him as having "a little anger management problem."
Views
Throughout his career, Charles Barkley held the view that athletes should be separated from role models. He told parents and teachers that instead of looking at him to raise the kids, they themselves should be the role models.
Barkley speaks against any form of racism and supports gay rights.
Quotations:
"A million guys can dunk a basketball in jail; should they be role models?" Barkley further opined: "I think the media demands that athletes be role models because there's some jealousy involved. It's as if they say, this is a young black kid playing a game for a living and making all this money, so we're going to make it tough on him. And what they're really doing is telling kids to look up to someone they can't become, because not many people can be like we are. Kids can't be like Michael Jordan."
"Just because you say something doesn't make it controversial, and it doesn't make you a bad person. We're not all supposed to think alike."
"I'm a mad dog whose only concern is winning."
"I don't create controversies. They're there long before I open my mouth. I just bring them to your attention."
"If you go out with a girl and they say she has a great personality, she's ugly. If they tell you a guy works hard, he can't play a lick. Same thing."
Personality
Barkley is regarded as one of the most exciting, controversial, outspoken, and dominating players in the history of basketball. He speaks his mind, regardless of the consequences, and is ready to confront anyone. “My momma told me a long time ago to let my emotions out, not to be repressed,” he once told a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter, and he has certainly taken that advice to heart.
Physical Characteristics:
Barkley's height is 6' 10¾" (2,1 m). He was one of the shortest power forwards in the league. The weight is 114kg.
Quotes from others about the person
Los Angeles Times reviewer Karen Stabiner: "Like anyone who loves the sound of his own voice, Barkley will pontificate on just about any subject. And Barkley has much to say about his career, the state of the NBA, and his refusal to be a role model."
A Kirkus Reviews contributor: "Barkley will win few friends here, but his blatant honesty is perversely refreshing and likely of wide appeal."
In SLAM magazine, Bill Walton said of Barkley, "He plays everything; he plays basketball. There is nobody who does what Barkley does. He’s a dominant rebounder, a dominant defensive player, a three-point shooter, a dribbler, a playmaker."
A Publishers Weekly reviewer on I May Be Wrong, but I Doubt It: Some Things I’ve Learned So Far: "This is a very entertaining look at one of the most intelligent minds in pro sports, and like Barkley’s career, it’s bound to produce fierce arguments."
"If you go out with a girl and they say she has a great personality, she's ugly. If they tell you a guy works hard, he can't play a lick. Same thing."
Interests
Gambling
Politicians
Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Julián Castro, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Sport & Clubs
Basketball
Connections
Since February 9, 1989, Charles Barkley has been married to Maureen Blumhardt. They have one child.