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Charles Barkley is doing some good with all that cash he’s making from TNT’s Inside The NBA.
The retired NBA big man is donating a big chunk of change to HBCU Spelman College in Atlanta. In the amount of $1 million, it makes the sixth time he’s dropped a bag at a Historically Black College or University.
According to AL.com, Chuck was inspired by his friend and business partner John Hudson’s daughter, Jordyn, who will be a sophomore this fall and will also serve as class president. Despite just being in her second year, Jordyn is already making waves with her “Shape the Culture: Then & Now,” documentary, which tells the story of Birmingham Civil Rights with an emphasis on the youth that ignited the movement.
Barkley spoke about the decision at a recent celebrity golfing event.
“John has been a great mentor, a great friend, and a great business partner,” Barkley said while hitting the links in Lake Tahoe. “I was ready to do another HBCU and with his daughter doing great things at Spelman, so I told him, ‘Why not there’?
Hudson also spoke on his dear friend’s giving nature, nothing that he’s more than the jokes and takes he gives while sitting behind that TNT desk alongside his contemporaries.
“People are aware of Charles from TNT and his NBA stardom, but I don’t think people are aware of how focused he is on philanthropy and entrepreneurism,” John Hudson said. “He knows how committed Jordyn is to Spelman and has seen how it has transformed her worldview.”
Barkley previously pledged $1 million each to Alabama A&M, Tuskegee University, Miles College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University. He’s also a graduate of Alabama’s Leeds High School, so he gave $1,000 to each employee of the Leeds City Schools. Then, back in 2020, he donated 200 computers to the high school alongside AT&T, who offered up a year of free wireless internet access.
