Charles Barkley is looking to give back to his hometown in Alabama.
During a recent interview with WJOX 94.5, Barkley revealed that he plans to sell memorabilia from his NBA career to build affordable housing in his hometown of Leeds, Ala.
“We’ve probably got 30 eyesores, as I call them, where houses used to be when I was growing up. Either a rotted-up house or there’s just weeds that are overgrown,” Barkley said. “I want to work with the city of Leeds, I want them to give me the spaces, number one. I want them to give me the houses, and I’m going to use my own money selling my memorabilia.”
Barkley explained that he has an autograph deal with Panini, a company that sells authenticated memorabilia. A representative from Panini said he could get Barkley “a lot of money” for his trophies and Olympic medals, and estimated he would bring in at least $300,000 for his 1993 MVP award.
The Hall of Famer said most of his memorabilia is currently at his grandmother’s house, and he originally planned to pass it on to his daughter. However, Barkley’s daughter asked to only keep his 1992 Olympic gold medal he won with the “Dream Team” and agreed he should sell the rest of his items to help Leeds.
“I want to do something really nice for Leeds. And if I could build 10 to 20 affordable houses—I want to do green housing too. If I could sell all that stuff, it would just be a really cool thing for me,” Barkley added.
Source: Sports Illustrated
