Charles Barkley to Sell Memorabilia to Build Affordable Housing in His Alabama Hometown: 'It Would be a Really Cool Thing for Me'

Charles Barkley is well-known for being generous with his opinions, but now the NBA hall of famer is pouring that same generosity into something a bit more benevolent: building affordable housing. Suggested Reading Check Out These Lavish Celeb Homes, All for Rent Right Now! Black Celebs Spotted During Paris Couture Week This Black A-List Celeb…

Charles Barkley is well-known for being generous with his opinions, but now the NBA hall of famer is pouring that same generosity into something a bit more benevolent: building affordable housing.

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The Washington Post reports that the one-time Round Mound of Rebound is selling memorabilia from his illustrious NBA career in order to raise funds to build affording housing in his hometown of Leeds, Ala.

โ€œThat stuffโ€™s not that important to me. Iโ€™ve had an unbelievable life,โ€ Barkley told Birminghamโ€™s WJOX-FM last week. โ€œIโ€™ve been in Leeds a lot and weโ€™ve probably got 30 eyesores, as I call them, where houses used to be when I was growing up. Either a rotted-out house or thereโ€™s just weeds that have overgrown. So, what Iโ€™m trying to doโ€”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 Iโ€™m going to use my own money, selling my memorabilia.โ€

https://twitter.com/ForTheWin/status/1237153189415260160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

For those interested, that means invaluable keepsakes like his 1993 NBA MVP trophy are up for grabs and could fetch some serious paper.

โ€œI got an autograph deal with [Italian memorabilia company] Panini and I was talking to the guys,โ€ Barkley said. โ€œAll that stuff is at my grandmotherโ€™s house; I donโ€™t even keep it, to be honest with you. And I said, โ€˜How much could I get for my MVP trophy and my two [Olympic] gold medals? And I got an autographed plaque signed by the [1992] Dream Team.โ€™ He says, โ€˜Oh, I can get you a lot of money for that stuff.โ€™ โ€

โ€œA lot of moneyโ€ as in as much as $400,000 for his MVP trophy alone.

Barkleyโ€™s ties to his hometown run deep. In 2015, he revealed to the Undefeated that he was the first black baby born in one of Leedsโ€™ segregated, all-white hospitals before eventually becoming one of the first black students to integrate his elementary school. So even though heโ€™s since grown up to become an NBA legend and moved to Arizona, he witnessed first hand how ugly things are in his old stomping grounds.

โ€œI want to do something really nice for Leeds,โ€ he said. โ€œAnd if I could build 10 to 20 affordable housesโ€”I want to do green housing, too. If I could sell all that stuff, it would just be a really cool thing for me.โ€

Barkley isnโ€™t without his faults, but in this instance, the man who once defiantly proclaimed that heโ€™s โ€œnot a role modelโ€ is definitely providing others with an example to follow.

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