Charles Barkley Selling Memorabilia to Help Build Affordable Housing in Alabama

Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is selling memorabilia from his playing career to benefit a good cause. 

Appearing on The Roundtable on 94.5 WJOX on Friday (h/t Jordan Cohn of Radio.com), Barkley announced he's going to sell his MVP trophy, one of his two Olympic gold medals and a flag signed by the original Dream Team to raise money to build affordable housing in his hometown of Leeds, Alabama. 

Barkley noted he was told the MVP trophy alone could net between $300,000-400,000: "If I can sell all that stuff, it would just be a really cool thing for me."

Sir Charles said his daughter would likely keep his other Olympic gold medal. Barkley was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. teams from the 1992 and 1996 Games. 

Speaking to The Undefeated's Jesse Washington in 2015 about his life growing up, Barkley said he was the first black baby born in a segregated town hospital in Leeds and was among the first black students at his elementary school. 

"The system has just robbed the money dry, and the whites have moved into really nice neighborhoods and built their own public, I mean 'private' schools," Barkley said. 

Per the most recent United States census data, approximately 12.6 percent of the population in Leeds lives under the poverty line, with the largest demographics being men aged 18-24, women 35-44 and boys 6-11. 

Barkley was raised in Leeds and attended Leeds High School before going to college at Auburn University from 1981-84.