The United States put together the "Dream Team," made up of twelve of the top pros. But there is also a lot of talent, the kind of talent only a handful of players ever have."īy 1992 the Olympic rules had changed, allowing professionals to compete in basketball for the first time. Mike Lupica of Esquire said, "There will always be a lot of mouth to Charles Barkley. Still, sports experts recognized his ability. He apologized and bought season tickets for her family, but he was fined again. In the 1991–1992 season he attempted to spit on a fan who had been heckling him and hit a little girl instead. Barkley continued to work on his game, however, and the 76ers made the playoffs in 19. In 1987 he called the 76ers "a bad team that has to play perfect to win" and was fined $3,000 by the team. In 1989 he married Maureen Blumhardt, and in that same year their daughter, Christiana, was born.ĭespite Barkley's play, the 76ers began to slip in the late 1980s, and Barkley himself became even more controversial, publicly complaining about his teammates. Though he had been known primarily as a rebounder in college, he improved his scoring as well, usually averaging over 20 points a game. In his second year he averaged 20 points and was second in the league in rebounding, a statistic he led the league in for the first time in 1986–1987. Joining such stars as Julius Erving and Moses Malone, Barkley played only part time in the 1984–1985 season but averaged 14 points and 8.6 rebounds a game. In the same year that such stellar players as Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon were available, he was selected fifth by the Philadelphia 76ers, despite questions about his weight and his attitude-the latter due to his battles with Knight at the Olympic tryouts. Barkley didn't make the final cut.īarkley majored in business management at Auburn but made a decision to leave school a year early to apply for the 1984 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft. Olympic team, but Coach Bob Knight disliked his flashy playing style. Barkley was invited to the tryouts for the 1984 U.S. Auburn's record was 20–11 that season, their second-best in twenty-five years. He also weighed 270 pounds and became known as the "Round Mound of Rebound." In the 1983–1984 season, he was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, averaging 14.1 points and clearing 9.4 rebounds per game. His mother reported, "He said he was gonna make it in the NBA, nothin' was gonna stop him, and he meant it." As a junior at Leeds High School, Barkley was a chubby five feet, ten inches tall and did not even start for the varsity basketball team but in the summer before his senior year, he grew to six feet, four inches, which enabled him to star for the Leeds team and go on to Auburn University in 1981.īarkley may have been tall by ordinary standards, but he had an unusual build for a basketball player and was far shorter than many of those he battled for rebounds nevertheless, he excelled in that area of the game. Grandmother, and the family saw difficult times, emotionally and financially.īarkley resolved early to make his way out of his impoverished background by playing basketball, practicing shots seven nights a week and leaping back and forth over a chain-link fence to improve his jumping. His mother, a domestic worker, remarried, but his stepfather died in an automobile accident when Barkley was in grade school. Barkley's parents were very young when he was born, separating and divorcing when he was a baby. Olympic basketball team) who is known for his rebounding skills and for his outspokenness and wit.īarkley, the only child of Frank and Charcey Glenn Barkley, was born weighing only six pounds and suffering from anemia, which required a complete blood transfusion when he was six weeks old. 20 February 1963 in Leeds, Alabama), basketball player and member of the first "Dream Team" (the 1992 U.S.
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