Charles Wade Barkley is an American retired professional basketball player. He is best known for being one of the National Basketball Association’s most dominant power forwards. Barkley has also become a television personality. His larger than-life character made him one of the most famous figures in NBA history. Throughout his 16 year NBA career, he became the 4th player to gain 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists.
Profile Summary of Charles Barkley
- Full Name: Charles Wade Barkley
- Nickname: Chuck, Sir Charles, Street Beef, The Round Mound of Rebound
- Nationality: American
- Date of birth: February 20, 1983
- Age: 57 years old
- Listed height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
- Listed weight: 250 lb (113 kg)
- High School: Leeds
- College: Auburn
- Playing Career: 1984 – 2000
- Position: Power forward
- Number: 34, 32, 4
- Career History: Philadelphia 76ers (1984-1992), Phoenix Suns (1992-1996), Houston Rockets (1996-2000)
- Olympic Games: 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta
How Old is Charles Barkley?
Since Charles Barkley was born on February 20, 1983, he is currently 38 years old. He will be celebrating his 38th birthday on February 20, .
What is Charles Barkley’s Net Worth?
Being one of the most popular and successful NBA players of all time and having ventures in different careers after his professional basketball stink, Charles Barkley’s estimated net worth is reported to be $40 million dollars.
Early Life and Education
Barkley was born and raised in Leeds, Alabama. 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 a baby and his father abandoned the family. His mother remarried and had two more sons, Darryl and John Glenn, with his stepfather, who was killed in accident when Charles was 11 years old.
High School
Charles Barkley attended Leeds High School. As a junior, Barkley 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 going through the state semifinals. Despite his improvement, Barkley was not noticed by college scouts. This changed during the state high school semifinals when 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 to attend Auburn University while majoring in Business Management.
College
Barkley played collegiate basketball at Auburn 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 despite of his weight. 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 “Crisco Kid” and “The Round Mound of Rebound”.
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In Barkley’s three-year college career, he averaged 14.8 points on 68.2% 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, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
NBA Career
Barkley started his professional basketball career in NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was then traded to the Phoenix Suns in 1992. He then moved forward with the Houston Rockets in 1996 until his retirement in 2000.
Philadelphia 76ers
In 1984, Charles Barkley was chosen by the Philadelphia 76ers with the fifth overall pick of the NBA draft. Barkley was very undersized for a forward, but his great leaping ability and his skill at establishing position around the basket using his considerable strength quickly made him one of the elite rebounders in the game.
He made the first of 11 consecutive All-Star Game appearances in 1987, but the 76ers’ success as a team was limited. Barkley and the 76ers never advanced farther than the second round of the play-offs during his eight seasons in Philadelphia. His inability to get the 76ers a championship led some to question whether he should be considered a truly elite player. Coupling this with Barkley’s outspokenness, which made him unpopular with the team’s front office, the team decided to trade him to the Phoenix Suns in 1992.
Phoenix Suns
Barkley helped the Suns post the NBA’s best record in his first season with the team. He also won the league’s Most Valuable Player award. In the following postseason he led the Suns to the NBA finals, a six-game loss to the Chicago Bulls. That season was the highlight of Barkley’s tenure in Phoenix, and in 1996 he was traded to the Houston Rockets.
Houston Rockets
Barkley again had an immediate positive impact on a franchise, as the Rockets reached the conference finals in the 1996–97 season. However, Barkley failed to win his long-sought championship in Houston, and he retired in 2000.
Post-Basketball Career
After his professional basketball career, Charles Barkley has had a successful career particularly as a television analyst. He has also ventured into politics and acting.
Television Analyst
Since 2000, Barkley has served as a studio analyst for Turner Network Television (TNT). He appears on the network’s NBA coverage during pre-game and halftime shows, in addition to special NBA events. He also occasionally works as an onsite game analyst. Barkley has won three Sports Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Studio Analyst” for his work on TNT.
Gambling
Barkley is known for his compulsive gambling. In a 2007 interview with ESPN’s Trey Wingo, Barkley revealed that he had lost approximately $10 million through gambling. However, despite suffering big losses, Barkley also claims to have won on several occasions. Later on, he said that he has since stopped gambling stating “I’ve got to stop gambling…I am not going to gamble anymore. For right now, the next year or two, I’m not going to gamble… Just because I can afford to lose money doesn’t mean I should do it.”
Politics
Barkley spoke for many years of his Republican Party affiliation. In 1995, he considered running as a Republican candidate for Alabama’s governorship in the 1998 election. However, in 2006, he altered his political stance, stating “I was a Republican until they lost their minds.
Barkley is also an outspoken supporter of gay rights. In 2006, he told Fox Sports: “I’m a big advocate of gay marriage. If they want to get married, God bless them.”
Acting
Barkley has also somehow ventured into acting. In 1996, he played himself in the film Space Jam. He also made a brief appearance in the TV series Suits, in episode 3 of the fifth season. He also appeared in the eighth season of Modern Family. He has also voiced an animated version of himself in We Bare Bears. In , he appeared in “The Piña Colada Song” episode of The Goldbergs as a gym teacher and alien conspiracy theorist briefly trained as a prospective replacement for the departing Coach Mellor.
Personal Life
Charles Barkley married Maureen Blumhardt in 1989 and in the same year, the couple had a daughter named Christiana. A DNA test read by George Lopez on Lopez Tonight revealed Charles Barkley to be of 14% Native American, 11% European, and 75% African descent.
Quotes by Charles Barkley
- “If I weren’t earning $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in the other direction if they saw me coming.” – Charles Barkley
- “My initial response was to sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized that I had no character.” – Charles Barkley
- “You know it’s going to hell when the best rapper out there is white and the best golfer is black.” – Charles Barkley
- “The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.” – Charles Barkley
- “Somebody hits me, I’m going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he hasn’t eaten in a while.” – Charles Barkley
- “I know I’m never as good or bad as one single performance. I’ve never believed in my critics or my worshippers, and I’ve always been able to leave the game at the arena.” – Charles Barkley
- “These are my new shoes. They’re good shoes. They won’t make you rich like me, they won’t make you rebound like me, they definitely won’t make you handsome like me. They’ll only make you have shoes like me. That’s it.” – Charles Barkley
- “My family got all over me because they said Bush is only for the rich people. Then I reminded them, ‘Hey, I’m rich’.” – Charles Barkley
- “Kids are great. That’s one of the best things about our business, all the kids you get to meet. It’s a shame they have to grow up to be regular people and come to the games and call you names.” – Charles Barkley
- “The main thing to do is relax and let your talent do the work.” – Charles Barkley