Charles Barkley
Former Professional Basketball Player, TV Analyst
Birthdate: Feb 20, 1963
High School: Leeds High School
Yearbooks: 1981
Yearbook photos of Charles Barkley from Leeds High School
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is a former professional basketball player and a basketball analyst. He is a 1981 graduate of Leeds High School (in Leeds, AL), where he played basketball. A member of the JV team as a junior, he grew six inches over the summer and made the varsity team for his senior year. Barkley helped lead the varsity team to what was then its best record in the school’s history. He was also a member of the homecoming court during his senior year.
When he was a junior at Auburn, Barkley became the fifth pick in the 1984 NBA draft, selected by the Philadelphia 76ers. In 1992, Barkley was traded to the Phoenix Suns, winning the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award for his first season with the team. A few years later, he became a Houston Rocket, remaining with the team until he retired in 2000. Generally known as a power forward, he sometimes played small forward and center as well.
Barkley was considered one of the NBA’s most versatile players and best scorers and was a tenacious rebounder. Over the course of his career, he was an 11-time NBA All-Star, winning the MVP award for 1991’s All-Star game. He was also named to the All-NBA team 11 times and is one of the few players in NBA history with career totals of at least 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists. Barkley also earned two Olympic gold medals, as a member of the 1992 and 1996 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball teams.
Since 2000, Barkley has been a studio analyst for the TNT network, covering NBA games. He has been a member of the crew of Inside the NBA, the network’s post-game show, since 2001. In 2006, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2017, Barkley produced and hosted a documentary miniseries called American Race, covering race relations in the U.S.
Awards:
- Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Event Analyst. 2011, 2012, 2016
Source: Wikipedia
