Early Life
Barkley was born and raised in suburban Leeds, Alabama, ten miles (16 km) outside of Birmingham, and attended Leeds High School. As a junior, Barkley stood 5'10" (1.78 m) and weighed 220 pounds (99.8 kg). He failed to make the varsity team and was named as a reserve. However, during the summer Barkley grew to 6'4" (1.93 m) 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.
Read more about this topic: Charles Barkley
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“The science, the art, the jurisprudence, the chief political and social theories, of the modern world have grown out of Greece and Rome—not by favor of, but in the teeth of, the fundamental teachings of early Christianity, to which science, art, and any serious occupation with the things of this world were alike despicable.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“They think how one life hums, revolves and toils,
One cog in a golden singing hive:”
—Stephen Spender (1909–1995)