Bob Huggins raves about Charles Barkley participating in annual fish fry

Every year, West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins will put on a fish fry fundraiser, benefitting Norma Mae Huggins Endowment at the WVU Cancer Institute and the Remember the Miners Flagship Scholars Program. One special face was at the event this year, with Charles Barkley in Morgantown to support Huggins.

Perhaps uncoincidentally, West Virginia played host to Auburn on Saturday. Barkley now had multiple reasons to make the trip, taking part in a good cause alongside Huggins before cheering against the head coach in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. But with the fish fry in focus, Barkley was there to supports the endowment.

“I asked Charles to come to the fish fry,” Huggins said. “And that was at the Hall of Fame induction in Springfield. He was great, said ‘what to do you need me to do?’ I’ve known Charles for a long time.”

Huggins and Barkley have a friendship past the basketball court that goes back some time. They became close with one another while Barkley was still in the NBA, with plenty of golf trips occurring over the years. He said nothing but kind words about the former Auburn player, declaring him a “fantastic person.”

“We’ve played a lot of golf together, we’ve hung out, we’ve played cards together,” Huggins said. “Nike used to do a vacation deal for the really good NBA players and the top level college coaches in their mind. We were all together, played a lot of golf together, hung around the pool together, played cards together.

“You get to know people pretty well and people don’t realize what a great person he is. He is a fantastic person. I asked him if he would do that for me and he said ‘yeah, sure.'”

Barkley is infamous for his golf game and Huggins added to the narrative. He joked it “wasn’t hard” to beat Barkley on the course, proving they are able to have fun with one another.

This year’s fish fry took place on Friday night at Mylan Park, with the event selling out. Plenty of people arrived from out of town but Barkley making an appearance may have meant the most to Huggins. Getting a win against Barkley’s alma mater probably helped as well.

West Virginia got a much-needed win, hoping to push toward making the NCAA Tournament. As long as they are not facing off against Auburn, you can bet Barkley will be there supporting Huggins.