Erick Barkley, the basketball player, looked like Iran Barkley, the boxer, when he allegedly went berserk after his 9-year-old son’s basketball team lost a close playoff game in Westchester by one point.
Barkley, 36, played point guard at Christ the King HS in Queens, with Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) at St. John’s, and then the Portland Trail Blazers.
“He’s not a bad guy,” said one fellow parent. “He just likes to beat people up.”
Barkley was coaching his son’s team from the Basketball Stars of New York against a squad based at House of Sports in Ardsley.
“Before the game, Barkley got into a beef with the father of a kid on the other team. Barkley said the kid couldn’t play because he was on more than one team,” said a parent. “After a half-hour of arguing, the kid was allowed to play.”
But as soon as the game was over, a heart-breaking one-point loss for Barkley’s squad, he allegedly walked over to the father and punched him several times.
Police were called, they cuffed Barkley, intending to arrest him, but the victim declined to press charges even though the assault was captured on someone’s cellphone.
One mother said, “My son is afraid to play basketball now. All the boys were traumatized.”
Barkley’s employer, Dave Brown, the Dwight HS coach who runs Basketball Stars of New York, didn’t return calls.