Athletes - Charles Barkley

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Charles Barkley

	Athletes - Charles Barkley

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 . Barkley won the Olympic gold medal with the U.S. Dream Teams in the 1992 and 1996 Games.

Barkley is best remembered for his tenacity and ruggedness for rebounds, despite his relative lack of height. Besides being one of the best rebounders ever, he was also a prolific scorer and a consummate team player. He had high career totals in scoring, rebounding, and assists. He is also famous for his behavior and often controversial statements off the court.

Career

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 far shorter than normal for the position; he is listed as 6 ft 6in, but was actually about 6'4" or 6'5". In 1984, he left Auburn a year early to begin playing in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers. 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", the Sixers made the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1990 and 1991 but were 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.

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.

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 7 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.

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 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Charles Barkley ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Charles Barkley; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Charles Barkley

Career

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay