Charles Barkley attended Bill Russell’s MENTOR’S Champions Golf Challenge and sat down with Golf Channel Reporter Win McMurry. His biggest mentors in sports have been Moses Malone and Julius Erving and he would not be where he is without their help. Bill Russell has also been a great friend to him over the years and he is just one of many elders that he has sought out to seek advice from because they have the experience and the wisdom. Playing basketball has seemed to be the easy part while mentoring others can be a challenge but it is very rewarding to both the mentor and the protégé.
Michael Jordan is a great friend of his and he agrees with the assessment that he is the greatest basketball player of all-time. In fact, he considers it an honor to play alongside him in his career. Jordan will not be able to do anything to help the U.S. Ryder Cup team but he is there because of the success he has had in his career and that is certainly a great thing. While it is nice that he will be there, he will not be able to hit a shot for them and that is how Ryder Cups are won.
He had the chance to be a part of the Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics and the best part of that experience was being able to make basketball an international experience and today, you have players from many different countries in the NBA and every four years, you have a number of teams who have at least one player from the NBA whereas that was not the case back in 1992.
Tiger Woods gets a bad rap in his opinion because if anyone else won 3 times in 1 year, they would be praised for their success. Unfortunately, there is an infatuation with the Major Championships and if you win one Major in a year, you are viewed as having a great year even if that is your only win of the year. In his opinion, you have had a great year if you win more than one tournament and in the case of Tiger and Rory, you have a really great year. Major Championships can make a good year a great year but while they are important, they do not and should not overshadow winning multiple times.
