TCU alum chronicles the life of Charles Barkley in 'Barkley: A Biography'

By Aidan Burt

It was the Golden Age of basketball. Players like Dr. J., Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird ran the court.

TCU alum Timothy Bella was drawn to the “Round Mound of Rebound.”

“Just being a short fat kid who was terrible at basketball, but who loved basketball, and would see this undersized fat guy at power forward named Charles Wade Barkley just do his thing and rebound over these skyscrapers and I’m like: how the hell is he doing that?” said Bella, who chronicled the hall of famer's career in “Barkley: A Biography.”

The 34 chapter book, which was done without Barkley’s direct involvement, got a strong assist from COVID-19.

Bella, who's a reporter at the Washington Post, did most of the work on the book during the pandemic. The shutdown provided access he might not have had otherwise.

Instead of being part of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — otherwise known as March Madness — legendary basketball coaches such as Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and Kentucky’s John Calipari all had time to talk about Charles Barkley with Bella.

He said it was still tough for him to write this book as he described it as a time when everything was horrible, and isn’t sure if he would have been able to pull it off without the support spouse, Betsy, as well as family and friends.

Bella said he was drawn to Barkley’s story. He said it shows how your actions can affect so many people directly and indirectly and over time.

"I think his story does capture all of that because he’s lived such a big life and touched so many people in a lot of different ways," Bella said. "It’s a reminder to just treat people well I think.”

Bella did hundreds of interviews, but said some really stood out.

Bella traveled to Leeds, Alabama, Barkley’s hometown as well as Auburn University where Barkley played. He also traveled to Philadelphia, Houston, New York and Chicago. All of the in-person interviews were done before the pandemic hit, but even with that Bella said about 90% of all interviews were either done over the phone or by video chat. He did have a sit down conversation with former Vice President Dan Quayle who has known Barkley for over 30 years.

Bella said the closer he got to Barkley’s inner circle of friends, the more guarded they were. His favorite interview was Shaquille O’Neal, Barkley’s colleague at TNT and fellow NBA hall of famer.

“Shaq was very honest and open about his relationship with Chuck,” said Bella.

O’Neal offered several funny anecdotes and talked about their on-air relationship. Bella said that despite all the jokes, O'Neal spoke of Barkley as a big brother figure to him.

Rapper Chuck D, Conan O’Brien and Adam Sandler, all friends of Barkley and basketball fans, also provided insights. O’Brien and Sandler talked about how funny he is. Sandler thought Barkley could be a comedian while O’Brien did not, Bella said.

Bella said he was struck by some things as he researched Barkley's life.

One of those things was the fact that Barkley had a tough childhood growing up in the Jim Crow south when segregation in schools was such an issue. While he attended a desegregated school, a lot of the anger and division was still present. At school, there was still the notion that if you were black, you were less than, Bella said.

Barkley was also bullied due to his race and lack of confidence. Bella said Barkley was focused more on stealing cakes from his local grocery store than basketball at the time.

He said Barkley didn't commit himself to basketball until the police chased him and his friends through the woods one night. He learned that Barkley realized that something needed to change and that his life needed some meaning and purpose.

Bella was in middle school when he began searching for meaning and purpose.

As a seventh grader in Kingwood, Texas, a Houston suburb, Bella was eating his so-called breakfast of champions — a bag of Fritos.

He had stayed up late the night before watching a Yankees playoff game, instead of studying for an English quiz. His teacher was also the school's journalism instructor, so Bella volunteered to write an article for the student newspaper during that class while everyone else took the quiz.

She agreed. And he was hooked.

Bella decided to study journalism in college. He said he chose TCU because of its proximity to Houston and because he wanted to find a place where he could shine and focus on journalism.

The program had recently been named after alum Bob Schieffer.

Bella said he immediately got involved in the Daily Skiff. He eventually become the head sports editor.

“Tim was a great student who loves journalism. He worked at his craft as well as anyone. He also really loves TCU,” said John Tisdale, an associate professor at the Bob Schieffer College of Communication.

Tisdale said Bella was a great student and even better person.

Bella said his time at TCU included hanging out with Gary Patterson in his office and covering a presidential debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Austin.

After graduating in 2008, Bella worked part-time at ESPN where he struggled to come up with good story ideas. He went to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, an experience he described as much needed.

Today, Bella is a staff writer and editor for the Washington Post’s general assignment team. He has also contributed to books about sports, including a biography on Tiger Woods and a book on college football.

“Barkley: A Biography,” was published in November.

When he decided he wanted to write a biography, he needed a subject who would keep him engaged the entire time, one the audience would be interested in, and one that would still be timely and relevant after years of working on it. He was fascinated by the fact that Barkley’s life could have been so different, being raised in the segregated South in Alabama by a single mother and grandmother.

Bella landed on the idea to write about Barkley in late 2018, right around the time he accepted his job offer at The Washington Post. He asked his editor if it was okay for him to work on this biography on the side only to find out that around half of the newsroom was working on their own books at the time.

At the beginning of his journey, Bella was in contact with Barkley’s agents in 2019 to try and get both Barkley and his agents on board. They said they were 75% flattered and 25% cautious and ultimately decided not to participate in the making of the book. Although Barkley’s camp declined, Bella sent them his eighty-one page outline on what his book was going to be and informed them he was still moving forward and starting the process.

“I really am proud that this is the most comprehensive book on Charles Barkley so far. He’s coming up on 60 and ever since he was at Auburn, he’s been in our lives as a public figure for over four decades now. And it’s just incredible how many people he’s touched in different ways,” said Bella on his thoughts on his book now that it has been published.

“I mean, I spoke with people who were his childhood friends, up to his niece, up to vice presidents and senators and hall of famers. It’s just this wide range of people who have been touched both positively and negatively by him."

"I found a cop who pulled him over driving, I found a woman who he poured a drink on her head at a restaurant. I tracked down a girl he accidentally spit on at a basketball game. He just has an unreal life story that has had a huge effect on tons of people, basketballs and culture.”

“Barkley: A Biography” is now available.