Charles Barkley was at a loss for words for once as Auburn unveiled a statue in his honor before Saturday’s Iron Bowl game with Alabama.
“I get paid to talk,” Barkley said. “I don’t even have the words to say what it means to me and my family. It’s just really amazing. When I came here in 1981, I’ve had an amazing life and it started here.”
At a ceremony outside Auburn Arena, Barkley was serenaded with kind words and jokes from his former coach, Sonny Smith, former Auburn running back and Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson and others.
Jackson wore a T-Shirt that told Barkley that his statue, outside Jordan-Hare Stadium, is bigger.
Nicknamed “The Round Mound of Rebound,” Barkley joked that his statue, which is a replica put in place until the final 2,500-pound statue is installed, had to be skinny.
“What happened was when I met with the [sculptor], he had like 10 pictures and he was trying to take a little bit out of each one,” Barkley said. “I said, ‘Dude, make your decision.’ He says, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Pick one picture, I’m not going go crazy over what the statue looked like.’ But he was great and so we were kind of running a little bit behind time, but it’s going to be like that in the end.”
Barkley is the fourth former Auburn athlete to have a statue in his honor, joining former Heisman Trophy winners Jackson, Pat Sullivan and Cam Newton.
He is one of four NBA players with 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists. The Leeds, Ala., native was an All-American at Auburn, a first-round draft pick, an Olympic gold medalist, the 1993 NBA MVP, an 11-time all-star, named one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players in the league’s 50th anniversary season, and was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
More Barkley
College GameDay spent Saturday morning in Auburn, Ala., site of the Tigers’ Iron Bowl game against Alabama. The show’s celebrity guest picker was former Auburn great Charles Barkley, who went against the rest of the panel and picked his alma mater.
He was right. Auburn ended up winning 26-14 to clinch the SEC West.
Barkley brought up Auburn’s last victory over Alabama, the 2013 Kick-Six game, which ended with Chris Davis returning a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown.
“I’m just gonna say this: A few years ago, it was the Kick Six. Today, it’s gonna be the Kick Ass,” Barkley deadpanned, as the Auburn students behind him went wild.
Lee Corso went with Alabama, undeterred by all the booing he surely knew such a pick would invite. As is Corso’s custom, he donned the mascot head of his selection and put on an elephant head with pride.
Walk-on humor
Alabama finished its basketball game with just three players on the floor in Saturday’s five-point loss to Minnesota.
A near brawl where five players were ejected for coming off the bench, a player fouling out and John Petty injuring an ankle left the Tide to finish with just three players. The Golden Gophers actually led by 14 points with 10:17 left while playing 5-on-3. Alabama trimmed the deficit to as low as 83-80 before eventually falling 89-84.
“I’m sitting here wondering if Coach [Eddie] Sutton would’ve put me in the game if we were down to 3 players,” former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville walk-on Jimmy Dykes tweeted Saturday evening. Dykes lettered for the Razorbacks from 1982-1984.
Quote of the day
“We’re playing
with a lot of momentum, a lot of energy, a lot of
swagger.”
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson
Wentz