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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. more...

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Barkley was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA in 1993. In 1996, the NBA's 50th anniversary, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Barkley won the Olympic gold medal with the U.S. Dream Teams in the 1992 and 1996 Games. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Barkley is best remembered for his tenacity and ruggedness for rebounds, despite his relative lack of height for his position. Besides being one of the best rebounders ever, he was also a prolific scorer and a consummate team player. Despite his high career totals in scoring, rebounding, and assists, Barkley never won an NBA championship. 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 quite shorter than normal for the position; he was listed as 6 ft 6in, but it is actually stated in his book "I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It", that he is closer to 6'4½".

The 76ers

In 1984, he left Auburn a year early to begin playing in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was drafted in the first round as the fifth pick. 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." However, the Sixers made the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1990 and 1991 only to be 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.

During the 1991-1992 season, his last in Philadelphia, Barkley wore number 32 instead of 34 in honor of Magic Johnson, who had announced prior to the start of the season that he was HIV-positive. The 76ers had retired the number 32 in honor of Billy Cunningham, who un-retired it for Barkley to wear. Following Johnson's announcement, Barkley also rebuked himself for having made fun of people for having HIV. Responding to concerns that players may contract HIV by contact with Johnson, Barkley commented flippantly: "We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic."

Read more at Wikipedia.org