Charles Barkley Quotes (Images)
If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!.
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| Birth: | 20th February, 1963 |
| Nationality: | American |
| Profession: | Basketball Player |
Barkley was born and raised in suburban Leeds, Alabama, ten miles outside of Birmingham, and attended Leeds High School. As a junior, Barkley stood 5'10" and weighed 220 pounds. He failed to make the varsity team and was named as a reserve. However, during the summer Barkley grew to 6'4" and earned a starting position on the varsity team in his senior year. He averaged 19.1 points and 17.9 rebounds per game and led his team to a 26–3 record en route to the state semifinals. Despite his improvement, Barkley garnered no attention from college scouts until the state high school semifinals, where 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 and majored in business management while attending Auburn University.
Barkley played collegiate basketball at Auburn University for three years. 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.
Barkley left before his final year at Auburn and made himself eligible for the 1984 NBA Draft. He was selected with the fifth pick in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers, two slots after the Chicago Bulls drafted Michael Jordan. He joined a veteran team that included Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Maurice Cheeks, players who took Philadelphia to the 1983 NBA championship.
During Barkley's eight seasons in Philadelphia, he became a household name and was one of the few NBA players to have a figure published by Kenner's Starting Lineup toy line. He also had his own signature shoe line with Nike. His outspoken and aggressive play, however, also caused a few scandals; notoriously a fight with Detroit Pistons center Bill Laimbeer in 1990, an event which drew a record total $162,500 fine, and the infamous spitting incident.
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