故事中文版

This story was re-broadcast on September 19, 2020 as part of The Best Of Only A Game.

(Editor's note: Check out an update from reporter Shirley Wang.)

When Charles Barkley's mother, Charcey Glenn, passed away in June 2015, Barkley's hometown of Leeds, Alabama, came to the funeral to pay respects. But there was also an unexpected guest.

Barkley’s friends couldn’t quite place him. He wasn’t a basketball player, he wasn’t a sports figure, and he wasn’t from Barkley’s hometown. Here’s what I can tell you about him: He wore striped, red polo shirts tucked into khaki shorts and got really excited about two-for-one 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.

Charles Barkley and Lin Wang (Courtesy Shirley Wang)

"You know, it was obviously a very difficult time," Barkley told me recently. "And the next thing I know, he shows up. Everybody’s like, 'Who’s the Asian dude over there?' I just started laughing. I said, 'That’s my boy, Lin.' They’re, like, 'How do you 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 big personality," my dad, Lin Wang, told me last year, when I recorded him talking about Barkley.

My dad told me that he knew about Barkley long before he met him.

"Well, yeah, he's a top-50 player in the history of the NBA," he said. "For many years, he was the No. 2 guy, right after Michael Jordan."

Whenever we attended dinner parties, my dad would talk about his friend Charles Barkley. The first time my dad told the story, I didn’t pretend to know who this person was. Basketball has never been my thing.

Like a good millennial, I Googled Charles Barkley. He seemed pretty famous — and definitely not like anyone who would be friends with my dad. But again, as a good millennial, I knew that people have very loose definitions of the word "friend."

About two years ago, I asked my dad if I could see 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.

(Courtesy Shirley Wang)

I told my dad the conversation seemed pretty one-sided and handed the phone back.

As I talked about the relationship with more and more people, I began to think that either my dad was one of the luckiest basketball fans ever — or this whole thing was an elaborate joke, a "Dinner For Schmucks"-type situation.

But no. The friendship was real.

The Origin

"It 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 charity 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 there. And we just sit down and started talking."

"He's a super nice guy," my dad said.

"And, before we know it, we looked at each other, like, ‘Yo, man, I’m hungry. Let’s go to dinner,’ " Barkley said. "It turned into a two-hour dinner. And then we actually went back to the bar and just sit there and talked for another couple of hours. And the rest is history."

My dad and Barkley saw each other again in the bar the next night. And the night after that. At the end of the third night:

"Certainly, I told him I had a good time talking with him, hanging out with him," my dad said. "He said the same thing to me, and he left the phone number. He said, 'Whenever you're in Atlanta, New York City or Phoenix, check out with me. If I’m 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 just meeting him."

They got dinner together.

Lin Wang and Shaquille O'Neal (Courtesy Shirley Wang)

"I think I had Thai basil noodle," my dad recalled. "It was pretty good. I had it right inside the office."

They spent time on the set of Barkley's TNT show, "Inside the NBA."

"He likes to clean," my dad said. "There were several big can of cleaning wipes right on his desk. Every time he sit down, he cleaned his desk."

They watched basketball games.

"Iowa lost to Maryland that day," my dad said.

I’m pretty sure they did some partying too. But that, I don’t know much about.

"Your dad is one of the happiest people I’ve ever met in my life," Barkley said. "I’m not just saying that — I mean, think about it: It’s fun to be with your friends, you know? 'Cause, I don’t have that many friends that I want to be around, to be honest with you. I mean, you know a lot of people. But when you go spend time with your friends, it’s a whole different animal."

Back Home ...

Back home, my dad's coworkers would tease him about Barkley and ask him about the story all the time. 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’s Chinese New Year celebration — totally irrelevant to the holiday.

I asked my dad what he thought it was about him, of all people, that made him and Charles Barkley become friends.

"I think we had a good conversation," he said. "We agree with each other [on] a lot of point of views.

"You know, he grown up in the ’70s in Alabama. His father left him and his mother when he was little. He grown up with grandma and mother. And the grandma and mother cleaned up houses for somebody else to make a living.

"Tough life for him. But he's well-respected professionally. And that's his story."