Charles Barkley's Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech

welcoming Charles to the

hall

of

fame

or Jerry Colangelo and Moses Malone, ladies and gentlemen, Charles Barkley, wow, first of all, thanks to you two, I'll get back to you in a second. First of all, I want to thank Joe and coach, two coaches. Dave Dominique, congratulations guys, we are together for life, I respect you all, it has been a pleasure being with you in the last few months. I'll give you all a quick timeline of my life in this CU. You know this is basically the It ended a little bit, but I started somewhere. I was born in Le Alabama and I want everyone in Le to be proud of this achievement.

We did it together. It started with my mother, my grandmother and my two brothers, John and Daryl, are here tonight. somewhere and my dad is here somewhere. I really appreciate all the love and support from him. It has been an incredible journey. We don't need government nonsense and cheese anymore, but it's been a great ride. Now we have a FIP minion and a little, we can have a lot of Cream Billet, we can have everything we want, yeah, no, no more mayonnaise sandwiches and stuff like that, we did it, and I do it. I thank all of you.

I want to thank Frank Mickens, that's my my. grandpa Simon Barkley publicity office Edwards three great grandparents who were fantastic to me my first coach coach Wallace hyut kept a lot of us kids out of trouble uh every weekend he had activities just so we couldn't get in trouble, I appreciate that him, that was important Le's High School, I think all the guys that played with me in high school, my first coach, in high school, coach Copeland, there are two teammates, uh, I want to acknowledge that one of them is here tonight, his name is John Edwards.

He's been on this amazing journey with me, another guy, probably my best friend I've ever had in my life. His name is Pep Mark. He's not here tonight, but I thank those two guys for being on this journey with me at the next stop, Auburn. My college coaches are here tonight Sunny Smith I want to thank him and Auburn Auburn Auburn coach Leo turning that program around good luck to you he's here tonight Auburn is a wonderful place. I've traveled all over the world and people yell War Eagle at me. all the time um as a coach I always said I love college I just hated school um you know I was at Auburn for 3 years and I checked my transcripts recently and I'm a legit freshman uh uh um um uh you know my um my grandma always I ride at CU I promise if I leave school early I would come back and get my degree obviously 20 years later that's not going to happen but I just want to thank the Auburn family it's a great school the people were a coach fantastic.

Smith, thanks for coming and Wargo to all the people of Auburn, next stop in Philadelphia. I really want to thank the 7even Sixers organization, Harold Catz, those guys, my first pro coach, Billy Cunningham, he's already in the Hall of Fame, but I want to give them a special one. Thanks to some players I played with, I always tell people that the most influential person in my career is Moses because he got me in shape and taught me to work hard. I asked him at the beginning of my rookie year why I can't play after he got over some fat, lazy thing he got, you know, so it took me a little while to get over that, uh, he got me in shape and I always give him Big credit for that and I want to thank the doctor too, I really wanted three. guys here tonight, but doctor Dominic stole my doctor, but uh, doctor, these guys taught me how to be a man, doctor Moses Clem Johnson, Andrew Tony, Marice, Chek Cheeks, Clint Richardson, Bobby Jones and Billy cam, they taught me how to be a man.

Those guys, a lot of gratitude, one of the problems I have when you come to the NBA today, the oldest guy on your team is like 25 now, so he doesn't know anything at 25. I appreciate that all these guys were over 30 They treated me fantastic, they taught me how to work hard, get in shape and they taught me financial tips, how to save my money. I tell all these little kids, the money you earn, save it, put it in the bank, that money has to last you the rest of the time. of your life don't waste it and I thank you for helping me become a man too in Philly my two favorite teammates mik jensy he's here tonight I want to thank him for just being a great friend Rick Mahorn isn't here uh he's in the WNBA Finals, so I just wanted to thank those two guys.

I know I'm going to miss some people, but I'm trying. If I see you, I'll thank you later. Also in Philadelphia I met a great woman. This woman is like they could put up with me all these years. I know you may not think that I'm not easy to get along with, but I just want to give a special thanks to my wife, who has been there for the past few years. 20 years she is the kindest person I have ever met in my life um there were a lot of things she had to deal with uh when I was arrested six or seven times um I was always acquitted you know you know when I was arrested it was always in big letters when I was acquitted It was always like that now that's how it works in Philadelphia uh and she uh she's been there and she's uh she's just a fantastic person.

I just want to thank her for her support and she gave me my greatest gift. and that's my daughter and I want to personally thank my daughter for not dating um because she probably wouldn't have been here tonight because she would have been in jail for killing someone so I thank her for taking the pressure off of me and her family. scattered all over and have been fantastic to me for the last 20 years and I want to thank her family for the support. I just thank you all. Everyone knows where they are, but I really appreciate them.

I want to do it in front of all these people, thank you all. I got traded to Phoenix and that's why I love Jerry. I thank Jerry for giving me the opportunity to win. That's all any player wants as an opportunity to try. win, obviously we lost to the Bulls in the finals, then the next two years we lost to the Rockets, they won a championship in seven games, but I thank him for bringing me to Phoenix and giving me a chance to win, that's all I ever wanted . and thank you very much, there were two coaches in Phoenix, Scot Robertson, who is here tonight.

I love him so much and he was fantastic to me and wanted me to be here. I'm glad he's here. Paul Westf. I thank him for Being just a friend to me, I love playing for him and there's a guy who's not here tonight. I think he probably orchestrated the exchange for me to come to Phoenix. He knew me very well and probably told Jerry that he wasn't that crazy. some people think I am and that's Cotton Fitz Simmons. I want to recognize it. God rest his soul. uh, I want to recognize my three favorite teammates in Phoenix.

Mark West. I love playing with him. Dan Marley, number nine, who's here tonight. I'm glad he's here. here and says tarpons, those were my three favorite teammates in Phoenix. I love those guys and I want to share this night with them, then I got traded to Houston and I just want to thank the Rockets, especially Rudy Tom Jovic for treating me with class and Dignity even when I couldn't play anymore. All great players go through that when they can't play anymore, but he still treated me like he was an Allstar even though he was faking it so much that I had to go see the caropractor like there were three of them. days a week, you know, you know, when you get older and you can't jump, they get blocked, guys, these guys can really jump, but I really want to thank the rocket organizations for treating me with dignity down the stretch.

I see a lot of people here tonight, Mr. Lord, I always recognize Mr. Bing. I saw before that Coach Thompson is one of my heroes. I simply respect him because he makes men. I want to thank Kareem. You know, the first time I met Kareem he was very nervous. You know, he didn't really talk about the guy, but I was like, hey, I got to meet Kareem, I mean these guys that I grew up seeing, I had to meet him and I just want to thank Joe for mentioning him, man, all these Hall of Fame. Famous and great NBA players.

I thank you all for making the NBA for giving me everything in my life. I tell people I'm 43 years old. I've never had a job. I've never had a job. I never want one. Or, I mean, I discovered a long time ago that work was really overrated and my favorite teammate with the Rockets was a guy named Eddie Johnson and I just want to share tonight with those guys and now my life is fantastic. I think everything. the people my financial advisor and my agent are here and Dan Sims Glenn Guthrie and Mark Perman I thank you all for protecting my money uh my first agent was a criminal um and I thank you for protecting my money and um no, I want to thank you to one person in particular before I came to my family TNT uh dick ersa I spoke to dick today dick is the first person who thought of me going on television uh and I want to thank him because now it would be a great family AG uh TNT, guys have been fantastic.

I thank you all for coming here. I know it's uh everyone sees Ernie. They know that Ernie has been undergoing cancer treatment. I really appreciate him coming. uh no. I know. You know what Ernie is. I told Ernie that he needed to be more like Kenny and I and I said, well, you better go bald because I'm not sure you want to be black, you know, so he's going with the ball right now, but me. I'm glad you're here Kenny couldn't be here uh Kenny got married last weekend so he's on his honeymoon I said Kenny it's no big deal you're not here go I mean you're only getting married one time and then I said, I said this is your third marriage, so, you know, so I told him, I say, man, go and enjoy this, this is my opinion, this is my opinion, huh, but listen, all these guys have They said, they have said everything, I am very lucky and It is an honor to see the dog Rivers, who has been a friend.

Arthur, who has been a friend. I see so many. Really one thing I've been very aware of is when I see all of you Hall of Famers, Mr. Hav and all of you. I appreciate what you guys do. He did it for me because the doctor told me something once that I never forgot, he said that we are in charge of the game. I never forget that the game is about the players, you know, fans come and go depending on how well you play, the media is going to write things about you depending on how well you play, but players, it's a special group when you're a player and I think all the older players for opening these doors for me for doing all the heavy lifting.

This has been a great night for me and all my family and friends and from taking Auburn to Philadelphia to Phoenix to Houston to TNT now ending in the

hall

of

fame

and I thank you all