There is no doubt that Charles Barkley made his mark within the NBA during his 16 years in the league. Now he is taking some of his achievements, and selling them to help out in his hometown of Leeds, Alabama.
According to CNN, Barkley is working with sports card company Panini to sell one of his two Olympic gold medals and his 1993 NBA MVP Award to help fund 20 homes that will be built in his hometown.
He called into the “Dan Le Batard Show” and said, “I don’t think I have to walk around with my gold medal or my MVP trophy for people to know I’m Charles Barkley, so I’m going to sell all that crap.”
Barkley told Birmingham sports radio station WJOX that his daughter wanted to keep his gold medal from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona when he was a part of the Dream Team. He also explained that some of the awards used to be at his grandmother’s home, but once she passed the memorabilia had been taking up space at his home.
“That just clutters my house. I used to keep it at my grandmother’s house, but they all passed away, and I don’t want that stuff crapping up my house,” said Barkley.
His philanthropic efforts have also expanded into education as he recently donated $1 million each to Miles College, Alabama A&M in Huntsville, Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College.
Watch Charles Barkley talk about the selling of his memorabilia at the 1:26:21 mark below:
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/us/charles-barkley-awards-auction-spt-trnd/index.html
TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
