![]() Katz, a ball of fire who acknowledged it was “bananas” to take on a franchise in peril, vowed to turn it around. The entrepreneur bought the 76ers from F Eugene Dixon for more than $12m in 1981, inheriting a pricy payroll, low attendance, and significant financial losses. “Harold was in awe of Charles Barkley,” said John Nash, then the team’s assistant general manager. Months earlier, Jack McMahon, the team’s director of player personnel, described the Auburn star to Sports Illustrated as having the body of Wes Unseld and the ups of Julius Erving, while also noting that any team that took him on would “have to put a weight clause in his contract.” But the owner, Katz, spoke of Charles glowingly. Photograph: Focus On Sport/Getty ImagesĬharles was certainly not a secret to the Sixers. “I didn’t leave college for $75,000,” Charles replied to his new agent in a not-so-calm tone.Ĭharles Barkley’s photoshoot for Sports Illustrated referenced his love for pizza. “You do know if the Sixers draft you they are going to give you $75,000, right?” Luchnick said to Charles. Then, Charles’s agent, Lance Luchnick, had some tough news to deliver to his prized client. In other words, whoever was getting picked by Philadelphia, a franchise capped out at around $4.5m, would not have the security of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal.Ĭharles had already lost about 10lbs that summer, a request made by the 76ers before a pre-draft weigh-in. Teams with payrolls at or above the salary cap could only offer their first-round picks a one-year deal worth $75,000. To address the escalating problems plaguing the league, the collective bargaining agreement announced for the 1984–85 season helped institute a salary cap. ![]() All of this came as salaries had spiked too quickly and several franchises were in danger of folding. Critics supported the notion that by pointing to Marvin Gaye’s rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner at the 1983 All-Star Game, a groundbreaking, funky version of the national anthem meant to reflect the Black excellence of the players on the court. On top of the rampant cocaine abuse among players, TV executives and advertisers felt the league was not marketable to mainstream America because it was too Black. The union is blessed with a daughter, Christiana Barkley the family now lives in New York City.This excess consumption was never the plan, but the league’s unstable footing complicated Charles’s financial future. The marriage is a success, as Charles admits that Maureen has changed his life for good. It is rare to talk about a great personality like Charles Barkley without a brief stop to discuss his love life he has been married to Maureen Blumhardt since 1989! Charles, and his wife first met in City Avenue Restaurant, where they were apparently hit by the arrow of love, and after dating for a while, they married before a judge to avoid controversies. #CharlesBarkley makes a deal with “the treat without the cheat!” ? #SharkTank #caveshake /Y2XnZHbi2w Unsurprisingly for a player of his stature, post-retirement he has spent considerable time as a basketball analyst for TNT since 2000, and court-side commentator, as well as guesting at National Football League games, and co-hosting “Saturday Night Live” too, in 2012.
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