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. Maureen Barkley has proven she’s quite skilled at flying under the radar, given the fact that her husband is one of the most famous NBA players of all time.This excess consumption was never the plan, but the league’s unstable footing complicated Charles’s financial future. For the past 30-years, the former model has been married to Charles Barkley, but has rarely been photographed with him at red carpet events or at games where he’s working as an analyst. Tonight, Charles Barkley will be kicking off his hosting job on TNT’s new two-night, four-hour docuseries, American Race. The show will follow Barkley as he makes his way across America, asking people how they feel about a number of socially and politically charged topics, like race, Muslims in America, Hollywood stereotyping, and immigration. Though Barkley hasn’t spoken about the subject directly, multiple outlets have reported that his interracial marriage raised eyebrows when the couple first married in the late 80s in Philadelphia. It has yet to be seen if his relationship will be a point of discussion in the docuseries. Maureen and Charles Have One Daughter Together Read on to learn more about Maureen Blumhardt, Charles Barkley’s wife.ġ. PlayerWives writes, “Apparently the marriage was unpopular in some areas of Philly because it was a mixed-race marriage.” Multiple outlets have claimed that the couple’s interracial marriage caused controversy in the 80s and 90s, but neither has directly commented on the topic.
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