Nick Piccone
The world said one final goodbye to Moses Malone on Saturday before he was permanently laid to rest in Houston. Many people, along with some NBA greats, came to not only remember, but to celebrate, the life of Malone, which ended last weekend.
Charles Barkley was called upon to deliver the eulogy, and did a fantastic job. You can really tell how much Malone meant to the old and new generation of Sixers players, along with many others during and after his career.
Video below, along with a brief transcription via the Houston Chronicle.
“That’s how Moses was,” said Charles Barkley, who delivered the eulogy for the former Philadelphia 76ers teammate he called “Dad.” “He made you smile. He made you laugh. And he loved everybody.
“He helped everybody. From the rookies on, he treated everybody great. He was a wonderful man. It was an honor for me to do the eulogy.”
Later, Barkley would describe Malone’s contract negotiations with the 76ers, again lowering his voice to imitate Malone’s.
“He heard the word, ‘deferred,’” Barkley said. “ ‘Big Mo don’t do ‘deferred.’ You had a deal with my agent. Big Mo don’t do ‘deferred.’
“This guy, he was one of the best businessmen ever. Ever. People confuse that voice like he don’t know. ‘No, no, no, you can’t cheat Big Mo.’”
Barkley told of Malone guiding him as a 76ers rookie, struggling to get playing time.
“When I got to the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984, we had a bunch of tremendous older brothers on the team,” Barkley said. “I looked at those guys as older brothers. But there was one guy – and to this day, I never understood why – who took me under his wing. And that was Moses. He treated me like a son.
“I said ‘Mo, I’m really struggling. What can I do?’ I said, ‘Give me some advice.’ He says to me, ‘Well little fella, you’re fat and you’re lazy.’”
That blunt conversation was the start of a long friendship between the two.
“Every time I saw him, I called him ‘Dad,” and told him I loved him and gave him a big hug and that I respected and appreciated what he did for me,” Barkley added. “I feel great sadness I’m not going to say, ‘Dad,’ ‘Big Mo’ every time I see him. That just hurts me. I don’t think I ever heard a person say a bad word about Moses Malone in my travels. I’m blessed to have connected with Moses. Anybody who connected him, you’re a much better person.”
Good stuff. Rest easy, Moses.