Charlie Again I Talked to My Dad
My Dad's Friendship With Charles Barkley 14:24 Re-create the code below to embed the WBUR audio histrion on your site
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故事中文版
This story was re-broadcast on September 19, 2020 every bit part of The Best Of Only A Game.
(Editor's notation: Check out an update from reporter Shirley Wang.)
When Charles Barkley'southward female parent, Charcey Glenn, passed away in June 2015, Barkley'due south hometown of Leeds, Alabama, came to the funeral to pay respects. But in that location was also an unexpected guest.
Barkley'southward friends couldn't quite place him. He wasn't a basketball game player, he wasn't a sports figure, and he wasn't from Barkley's hometown. Here's what I tin tell you about him: He wore striped, cerise polo shirts tucked into khaki shorts and got really excited nigh two-for-1 deals. He was a commuter. He worked as a cat litter scientist in Muscatine, Iowa. In short, he was everyone's suburban dad. More specifically, he was my dad.
"You know, it was obviously a very hard fourth dimension," Barkley told me recently. "And the next thing I know, he shows upward. Everybody'south similar, 'Who'southward the Asian dude over there?' I just started laughing. I said, 'That's my boy, Lin.' They're, like, 'How do yous know him?' I said, 'It's a long story.' "
My Dad: Lin Wang
The long story started four years ago.
"You know, [Barkley] has a large personality," my dad, Lin Wang, told me last year, when I recorded him talking near Barkley.
My dad told me that he knew nearly Barkley long earlier he met him.
"Well, yeah, he'southward a top-50 player in the history of the NBA," he said. "For many years, he was the No. 2 guy, correct subsequently Michael Hashemite kingdom of jordan."
Whenever nosotros attended dinner parties, my dad would talk about his friend Charles Barkley. The first fourth dimension my dad told the story, I didn't pretend to know who this person was. Basketball game has never been my thing.
Similar a adept millennial, I Googled Charles Barkley. He seemed pretty famous — and definitely not similar anyone who would be friends with my dad. But over again, equally a good millennial, I knew that people take very loose definitions of the word "friend."
About two years ago, I asked my dad if I could run across their texts. My dad handed me his phone. Their texts were mostly messages from my dad that ended with an excessive number of exclamation points.
I told my dad the conversation seemed pretty one-sided and handed the telephone back.
As I talked about the relationship with more and more people, I began to think that either my dad was 1 of the luckiest basketball fans ever — or this whole thing was an elaborate joke, a "Dinner For Schmucks"-type state of affairs.
Only no. The friendship was existent.
The Origin
"Information technology was, like, one of the most random things," Barkley recalled with a laugh.
"I was on a business trip," my dad said, "and stayed in one of the hotels and was walking in the lobby, and I saw Charles Barkley."
"I was in Sacramento speaking at a clemency event," Barkley said.
"So, I just went to say hi and take a picture with him," my dad said.
"I was just sitting at the bar," Barkley said. "And me and your dad were the only two people in at that place. And we just sit downwardly and started talking."
"He's a super prissy guy," my dad said.
"And, before nosotros know it, we looked at each other, like, 'Yo, man, I'thou hungry. Let's go to dinner,' " Barkley said. "Information technology turned into a two-hr dinner. Then we actually went back to the bar and but sit there and talked for another couple of hours. And the residue is history."
My dad and Barkley saw each other once more in the bar the next night. And the nighttime afterward that. At the end of the third night:
"Certainly, I told him I had a proficient time talking with him, hanging out with him," my dad said. "He said the same thing to me, and he left the telephone number. He said, 'Whenever y'all're in Atlanta, New York Urban center or Phoenix, cheque out with me. If I'1000 in town, we'll hang out and have a good time.' "
Hanging Out With Charles Barkley
Over the next few years, whenever my dad was in those cities, he would text Barkley, and they would hang out.
"I mean, it was just a fun time," Barkley said. "My friends — Shaq, Ernie, Kenny — they enjoyed but meeting him."
They got dinner together.
"I think I had Thai basil noodle," my dad recalled. "It was pretty expert. I had information technology correct within the office."
They spent fourth dimension on the fix of Barkley's TNT show, "Within the NBA."
"He likes to clean," my dad said. "At that place were several large tin can of cleaning wipes correct on his desk. Every fourth dimension he sit downward, he cleaned his desk."
They watched basketball game games.
"Iowa lost to Maryland that day," my dad said.
I'm pretty sure they did some partying likewise. But that, I don't know much nearly.
"Your dad is ane of the happiest people I've always met in my life," Barkley said. "I'm not just saying that — I mean, call back nearly it: Information technology's fun to exist with your friends, yous know? 'Cause, I don't have that many friends that I want to be around, to exist honest with you lot. I hateful, you know a lot of people. But when you go spend time with your friends, it'south a whole different animal."
Back Abode ...
Dorsum dwelling house, my dad's coworkers would tease him well-nigh Barkley and ask him about the story all the fourth dimension. My dad didn't mind that they didn't believe him. He even made a slideshow of photos of him and Barkley together for our community'south Chinese New year's day celebration — totally irrelevant to the holiday.
I asked my dad what he thought information technology was most him, of all people, that made him and Charles Barkley become friends.
"I call back we had a proficient conversation," he said. "We concur with each other [on] a lot of signal of views.
"You know, he grown up in the '70s in Alabama. His father left him and his mother when he was lilliputian. He grown upward with grandma and mother. And the grandma and female parent cleaned up houses for somebody else to brand a living.
"Tough life for him. But he'due south well-respected professionally. And that's his story."
"Your dad is ane of the happiest people I've ever met in my life."
Charles Barkley
My dad moved to Iowa from China in the '90s. He felt that Barkley and him had similar experiences.
"So, to me, as an Asian in the U.S., I felt as long equally I do a good job, people will respect me," my dad said.
Barkley and my dad both worked hard — so hard, they believed, that the color of their peel didn't matter. In Chinese, we'd say that dad sometimes would 胡说八道(hú shuō bā dào) — that meant that sometimes he was known for spewing rubbish. I know that basketball fans might say Barkley oftentimes does the same.
In June 2015, Barkley'southward mother passed away. When my dad heard the news, he looked upward the funeral details and hopped on a airplane to Leeds, Alabama.
"It ain't piece of cake to go to those places," Barkley said. "I'm from a very minor town."
And my dad showed up for his friend. Afterward, he went to dinner with Barkley and his family.
"For your dad to take the time to come to the funeral meant a cracking bargain to me," Barkley said.
Then, in May 2016, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. He had tumors in his eye.
I took that fall off from school. My dad and I watched mobster movies together. Action movies. Kung Fu movies. When the credits rolled, we'd flip to a basketball game. Just me and him, watching a lot of TV in our living room.
Days passed by. Then months.
And then, information technology was two years.
My dad never told Barkley that he was sick.
"I called him and got mad at him when I establish out," Barkley said. "I was, like, 'Dude, nosotros're friends. You tin tell me. You're not bothering me. You know me well enough — if you lot were bothering me, I would tell yous y'all were bothering me.' "
What Barkley didn't know was that my dad watched him almost every night on TNT. And while he rested and healed, my dad was laughing forth with Barkley. He kept my dad visitor.
The NBA Finals
June 2018. NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers. My dad was staying in palliative care at the infirmary. He loved the Warriors. I visited and read him sports highlights.
He didn't become to sentinel J.R. Smith'southward late mistake in Game 1 live. I tried to become him to laugh about Smith dribbling away from the hoop because he idea his team was ahead.
Only it was a Sunday afternoon, and my dad was tired. The summer light filled his room. Then, the day faded, and dusk began to enter.
After it was all over, I went through my dad's phone and texted all his friends. I wrote:
Hi. This is Shirley. My dad merely passed abroad.
The funeral was the day after the NBA Finals. My dad'due south favorite team, the Aureate State Warriors, had won the night before.
"Information technology gives me nifty memories and cracking joy to know that I was a friend of his."
Charles Barkley
The funeral was set near the outskirts of Iowa Urban center in a firm by the wood. I was talking to my childhood friend when she suddenly looked stunned. I turned to expect behind me.
And standing at that place — drenched in sweat from the Iowa summer, towering over anybody in the room at six anxiety, half-dozen inches tall — was Charles Barkley.
"I had non met everyone in your family unit," Barkley said. "I didn't know anybody there."
Everyone watched, astonished, every bit this man — this homo we only knew from Boob tube, this worldwide celebrity — walked down the aisle, looked at u.s. and sighed.
'Why My Dad?'
Later, after it all, I texted Barkley and asked him: "Why my dad? Why did he matter and then much to you?" And recently, I called him up and asked: "What did you even have to talk about?"
"Well, I think — start of all, clearly, he was a fan," Barkley said. "But I think the primary thing we talked almost was you lot and your brother."
"What did you guys talk most — what did he say?" I asked.
"I retrieve information technology was more that he was proud," Barkley said. "Because I've got a daughter, likewise. I'm just actually, actually proud of her, because I think she's a good person. And your dad was so proud of y'all and your brother.
"Heed: Equally an adult — and you're besides young to sympathize this now — all you want is your kids to be happy. That'south what you work for. To give your kids everything in life."
The more than Charles Barkley and I talked, I realized just how shut he and my dad were. Barkley knew and so much about me and my life — even though this was the first time he and I had ever talked.
"It gives me great memories and great joy to know that I was a friend of his," Barkley said. "Just hearing about him at the funeral — what he had accomplished and what he was trying to help other people accomplish, just made me even — I wished he bragged more about himself."
"So, let me become this direct: you were impressed by him?" I asked.
"Yeah," Barkley said.
'I Was Blessed To Know Him'
At the funeral, people shared memories of my dad and made me realize that, for example, he was not just a cat litter chemist — but an industry-changing scientist with a Ph.D. And not just an immigrant — but someone who reached out to Chinese newcomers. And not only a thoughtful guy — simply someone people trusted for advice. I realized that, even after he passed away, I would continue to learn things about my dad.
Earlier Barkley and I hung up, he had one more thing to say:
"Hey, listen. Yous stay in touch on. Delight tell your mom I said howdy. Give her a big osculation. Tell your brother I said hello. And listen: Only keep doing y'all. It's your time now. Don't forget that. That's the nearly of import affair.
"Your dad prepared you to take care of yourself. He prepared you for that. I was blessed to know him — and know yous, too."
"Cheers for your fourth dimension," I said.
"You're welcome, babe. You have information technology easy, you hear?"
"You too."
I know how much his friendship with Charles Barkley meant to my dad. It was not just a relationship with a celebrity — it shed light on the possibilities of this world. A world where someone like him could but say something cool, something charming, and befriend someone similar Charles Barkley.
I'm so glad that now I become to share my dad'south No. 1 dinner political party story.
Shirley Wang is a freelancer journalist who has published work for Popula, The Little Village, Metro U.S. and WGBH News. She tin can exist reached at shirley.wang5615@gmail.com, and you tin can discover her on Twitter @shirleyshirlw.
Source: https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/12/14/lin-wang-charles-barkley