ment for him, who should be looked to as role mod-
els. Barkley reminded a culture that increasingly dei-
fied its public figures of its own culpability.
Barkley ended his NBA career with the Houston
Rockets, briefly joining other NBA superstars past
their prime: Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and,
later, Scottie Pippen. After suffering a quadricep
muscle injury early in the 1999-2000 season, Barkley
returned for a final game and to a Houston crowd
that honored his sixteen-year career with a standing
ovation. Barkley told the fans, “Basketball doesn’t
owe me anything. I owe everything in my life to bas-
ketball.”
Impact Charles Barkley was an eleven-time all-star
and a five-time all-NBA First Team selection. He was
also a member of the “Dream Team,” the U.S. Olym-
pic squad that won a gold medal in 1992; addition-
ally, he was part of the team that repeated as gold
medalist in 1996. Though Barkley was often labeled
as selfish, it was his individualism and honesty that,
ironically, made him one of sport’s great role mod-
els. In 1992, when other players’ fears caused them
to ostracize Magic Johnson because of his admission
that he had acquired HIV, Barkley wore Magic’s uni-
form, number 32, as a sign of support for a col-
league. “I’m disappointed in myself that I haven’t
felt the same compassion for other people stricken
with [HIV] that I now feel for Magic,” Barkley ex-
plained.
Michael Jordan redefined basketball in the 1990’s
with an otherworldly ability and profited from his
manicured and amiable public persona; he was akin
to a superhero. However, Charles Barkley—power-
ful and efficient on the court and brash and brutally
honest off it—was a figure with whom American so-
ciety could identify on an everyday level. He was a
spokesman for the American subconscious, at times
both affable and confrontational, who used his posi-
tion as a public figure to entertain and thoughtfully
provoke.
Further Reading
Barkley, Charles, and Michael Wilbon.Who’s Afraid
of a Large Black Man?New York: Penguin Press,
2005.
Tulumello, Mike.Breaking the Rules: A Volatile Season
with Sport’s Most Colorful Team, Charles Barkley’s
Phoenix Suns. Altanta: Longstreet Press, 1996.
Christopher Rager
See also Basketball; Dream Team; Johnson, Magic;
Jordan, Michael; Malone, Karl; Olympic Games of
1992; Olympic Games of 1996; O’Neal, Shaquille;
Sports. Barry, Dave
Identification American humorist, newspaper
columnist, and author
Born July 3, 1947; Armonk, New York
Barr y’s newspaper columns and books have offered readers
a combination of the writer’s sometimes biting commentar y
tempered with his trademark zany wit. Called the “funniest
man in America” byThe New York Times, Barr y was
one of the most popular writers of humor and satire during
the 1990’s.80 Barry, Dave The Nineties in America
Dave Barry in 1992.(AP/Wide World Photos)