Charles Barkley, Who Cursed Mark Jackson’s Mother, Was Once Caught in $10,000 Betting Scandal With Him

Did you know a story that Bluu Jackson didn’t know about his dad and his dad’s archnemesis-turned-buddy? Well, you’re about to. Before Mark Jackson and Charles Barkley shared airwaves, got in trouble with NBA commissioners, and bantered, they were on opposite sides of the biggest rivalry in the NBA. That too in an era when Sir Charles was infamous for his temper. Barkley dropped by The Mark Jackson Show (and gave him grief for that bland name) to rehash the 35-year-old grudge. Not over their in-game antics. But something that happened on the sidelines that most people didn’t notice.

Two things happened in 1989. Chuck’s future employer, TNT premiered Inside the NBA and Chuck with the 76ers was humiliatingly swept in the playoffs. Barkley’s rants against New York on TNT were predated by Mark Jackson& Co. busting out the brooms to rub it in. After losing two games in a row to the Knicks, the pressure on the Sixers was tremendous in this series. Chuck and Mark narrated to Bluu how the former responded to that.

“We’re playing the Sixers in the Garden,” said Jackson. “And Charles gets into it with [his mother].” According to Jackson, his mother Toni Ann Jackson was the “loudest person in every arena she been in.” Back then, a young Chuck also got into it with fans during games.

“But Charles is cussing out this lady and have no clue until after the game. Somebody tells Charles, ‘do you know who that was?’ He’s like, ‘No, I don’t care. The lady just running her mouth.’ It was my mom.” 

But after realizing it was Jackson’s mom, a regretful Charles Barkley looked for Toni in the arena and apologized. Jackson confirmed that he saw Chuck and Toni laughing about it. Barkley buried the hatchet with Toni but his grudge against Jackson and the Knicks is still raging hot. Despite the bitterness, only a year after the broom incident, Mark and Chuck were showing the most unlikely friendship.

Charles Barkley and Mark Jackson’s competitive friendship

“I’m still mad,” Charles Barkley told Jackson 35 years later. It was the only time he got swept in his NBA career. Until then, Barkley took great pride in his record. It went down in NBA history when the Knicks beat their age-0ld rivals, the 76ers 3-0 in Philadelphia no less. In the last game, Jackson, Charles Oakley, Sidney Green, Johnny Newman, and Eddie Lee Wilkins took the janitor’s mop and posed with it as a taunt.

The games were close each time but the Knicks would save it with buzzer-beaters. Mark Jackson actually had a disappointing performance overall in this series. But he nailed a 30-foot shot with 10 seconds to the clock in Game 1. Chuck was so mad that he started yelling at the loud woman in the stands, not knowing that it was his opponent’s mom.

“And she’s the sweetest lady,” Chuck told Bluu. “But when you’re getting your butt kicked and emotions get high, but man, she was such a wonderful lady.” Toni Ann Jackson passed away in June this year and Mark was grateful for Chuck’s kind words about her.

Perhaps making peace with Toni set the stage for Chuck and Mark’s on-court dynamic. In 1990, when the Knicks and Sixers rematched, both players were betting on free throws during the game. Chuck won $1000 by making both free throws with 24 seconds left on the clock. But lost another wager when Jackson tied the game with his three.

Their unconventional trash talk got them in trouble with then NBA commissioner, David Stern who fined them $5,000 each. But that $10,000 hit didn’t sour this funny friendship that started with one player cursing another’s mom.