Claremore Daily Progress

Sports

June 18, 2011

Like Father, Like Son

Barkleys find success chasing ‘Hoop Dreams’ in Inola

Tim Ritter Sports Editor

INOLA — Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad.

For 30 years, Inola native Clyde Barkley has been a father, coach and mentor to his oldest child and only son, Justin.

He bought Justin a nerf basketball and goal and had the newborn working on his shot while lying awake in his crib back in Inola.

By the time Justin could pick up a real basketball, Clyde taught him how to shoot a left-handed layup and often scribbled the x’s and o’s of playing man-to-man defense on a napkin at the kitchen table.

Whatever lesson was to be learned in the game of basketball, Justin was all ears, never complaining and always paying attention.

To Justin, his father knew best ... whether it was about basketball or raising his son with Christian morals.

“Wherever I went, Justin always tagged along,” Clyde said.

“He’s seen every style of basketball you can imagine.”

And, according to Clyde, Justin has won a basketball championship at every level of his playing career.

Clyde coached Justin in AAU and high school basketball, before giving way to long-time friend and Northeastern State University head men’s basketball coach Larry Gipson.

Justin noted that his junior high school team in Inola went 101-0, but his personal success always took a back seat to what the team achieved.

Inside the Inola High School locker room is the Longhorns’ motto for every season ... “Together Everyone Achieves More.”

His father always preached TEAM first, me second.

“With Justin, its never been about individual honors,” Clyde said.

“He’s about approached sports with a TEAM concept.”

In 1997, Justin won an AAU national championship during the summer of his junior year at Inola High School.

In 1998, Justin was a member of Inola’s first-ever boys basketball state championship, coached by his father, Clyde.

In 2003, Justin helped lead Northeastern State University to the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship.

“He’s been truly blessed and pretty fortunate,” Clyde added.

“God gave him a gift and he’s using it in a positive way to influence young men.”

Clyde, who has coached in Inola for more than 30 years, always taught his son and daughter, Andee, to do the right thing on and off the basketball court.

“From a father’s standpoint, Justin’s basketball career has been awesome to watch,” Clyde said.

“He exemplifies the saying that ‘what you put into, you get out of it.’”

On the court in practice or during a district basketball game inside the Jerry O’Quin gymnasium, Clyde never questioned Justin’s decision making.

“It was like there was another coach on the floor,” Clyde said. “He was one of those players that made everybody around him better.”

Clyde added that being a coach’s son is one of the hardest things to do in life.

“The magnifying glass was always on him wherever he went,” Clyde said.

But, for Justin, he could do nothing wrong in the eyes of his father, and never once swayed away from his Christian values.

“He was the perfect son,” Clyde said. “Being his father is pretty special.”

Justin agreed that his relationship with Clyde is what makes coaching easy.

“Everything I’ve learned to this point in my basketball career has come from my dad,” Justin added.

As the first-year head men’s basketball coach at Rogers State University, Justin brought the same winning philosophy that his father instilled at Inola to Claremore and molded the Hillcats into an NAIA Division I Elite Eight team.

“Work hard at what you do, do what’s right and the wins will come,” Justin said of his father’s philosophy on life and basketball. “Dad gets great pleasure seeing people grow up. He’s not in it for the wins or losses.”

In a lot of ways, Justin is the spitting image of his father.

Success, through the game of basketball in the Barkley family, is very passionate.

“There’s no way in the world I could ever fill my dad’s footsteps,” Justin said.

Even though some people in Inola figure he would take over for Clyde once the veteran head coach retired, Justin smiles and shows his happiness for coaching the college game.

“I feel like I relate better to the college game and it’s become a ministry for me,” Justin said.

“I get to experience so many different backgrounds and witness to guys about life.”

Whether or not Justin one day returns to Inola, he still will carry a part of Clyde wherever he goes in the coaching circle.

And, Clyde will always remember the day Justin came into his life.

The greatest victory in Clyde’s coaching career was the day Justin took on the Barkley name.

“The Lord blessed me and I couldn’t be more proud to call him my son,” Clyde said.

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