NBA legend Charles Barkley donates $1M to Atlanta's Spelman College
Former NBA player and basketball analyst Charles Barkley before a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on June 6, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
ATLANTA - NBA legend and analyst Charles Barkley is supporting Spelman College with a huge donation.
Last Thursday, Barkley announced that he will donate $1 million to the historically Black Atlanta women's college.
According to AL.com, the Hall of Famer said he chose to donate to Spelman after seeing the impact the university had on the daughter of his friend and business partner John Hudson, who is currently a student at the school.
"John has been a great mentor, a great friend, and a great business partner," AL.com reported Barkley saying. "I was ready to do another HBCU and with his daughter doing great things at Spelman, so I told him, ‘Why not there?’"
Spelman's new president says the gift will be used to help develop the next generation of leaders by closing the education and wealth gap for students and maintaining affordable education opportunities for women.
This isn't the first time Barkley has given back to the Atlanta community.
In 2016, Barkley pledged $1 million to Clark Atlanta University. The next year, he made a pledge of $1 million to Morehouse College. He's also donated to Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama A&M in Huntsville and Tuskegee University.