NBA legend Charles Barkley’s unlikely friendship with cat litter scientist from Iowa

Touching story of NBA legend Charles Barkley’s unlikely friendship with a cat litter scientist from Iowa who the basketball star calls one of the ‘happiest people’ in his life

  • Shirley Wang recounts how her father, Lin Wang, from Muscatine, Iowa, became close friends with Charles Barkley
  • Lin spent the past four years hanging out with Barkley and his fellow NBA celebrities
  • He would attend Barkley’s mother’s funeral in 2015, and Barkley in turn would eulogize his unlikely friend in 2018 

The surprising friendship between an NBA Hall of Famer and a cat litter scientist has been revealed.

Lin Wang, ran into Charles Barkley four years ago in Sacramento, California, his daughter Shirley Wang told NPR’s Only a Game sports show.

‘I was on a business trip,’ Lin Wang told Shirley, ‘and stayed in one of the hotels and was walking in the lobby, and I saw Charles Barkley.’

‘I was just sitting at the bar,’ Shirley recounts Barkley’s side of the meeting. ‘And me and your dad were the only two people in there. And we just sit down and started talking.’

The surprising friendship between an NBA Hall of Famer and a cat litter scientist has been revealed.. Charles Barkley posing with his unlikely buddy, Lin Wang

Charles Barkley gives a eulogy celebrating the selflessness of his friend Lin Wang

Charles Barkley gives a eulogy celebrating the selflessness of his friend Lin Wang

‘He’s a super nice guy,’ said Lin Wang.

The brief encounter became a long dinner, then drinks back at the bar and then a deep friendship. 

For years afterwards, Lin Wang, an immigrant from China a basketball fan and the former forward for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets would text each other, meet, hang out, have dinner and watch basketball.

Now the deep friendship has become a story that has touched the Internet. 

‘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’

‘He likes to clean,’ Lin Wang said of his friend when visiting him on his television show. ‘There were several big can of cleaning wipes right on his desk. Every time he sit down, he cleaned his desk.’ 

The depth of the friendship was noted when Lin attended the funeral of Barkley’s mother, Charcey Glenn, in 2015. 

A man out of place among many of the people in Charles’ life from Leeds, Alabama, and his life as a sports superstar, people paying their respects were perplexed. ‘That’s my boy, Lin,’ he would tell the other funeral goers. 

A random user on Twitter reached out to Shirley Wang after her story posted with a photo he took of a chance encounter with both Lin Wang and Charles Barkley

A random user on Twitter reached out to Shirley Wang after her story posted with a photo he took of a chance encounter with both Lin Wang and Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley #34 of the Philadelphia 76ers posts up during a game against the Houston Rockets in 1984

Charles Barkley #34 of the Philadelphia 76ers posts up during a game against the Houston Rockets in 1984, left, and Lin Wang texts Charles Barkley, right

Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson Jr., Kenny Smith, Lin Wang and Charles Barkley on the set of 'Inside the NBA' on TNT

Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson Jr., Kenny Smith, Lin Wang and Charles Barkley on the set of ‘Inside the NBA’ on TNT

And in a tragic turn, when Lin Wang was diagnosed with cancer and eventually passed away in 2018 right after the last game of the NBA finals, it was Charles who came out to pay respects to his longtime friend.

It was there Shirley would learn that her father was not just a cat litter scientist, but an important figure in his industry, and someone who connected with everyone around him, including the big man from Leeds, Alabama.

‘People have said consistently, he was a selfless man, he really cared about other people’ Barkley said in his tribute to his late friend. ‘And the world is gonna be a little less happier without him.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk