Last Updated on March 2, 2023

Tiki Barber Biography

Tiki Barber (Atiim Kiambu Barber) is a former American football running back. He played for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. Tiki played college football for the University of Virginia.

He was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft, and played his entire professional career for them. Tiki retired from the NFL at the end of the 2006 NFL postseason as the Giants’ all-time rushing and reception leader. He was also inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Following his playing career, Tiki became a national media presence, notably joining NBC’s The Today Show as a correspondent in 2007 and Football Night in America/Sunday Night Football. He has also published multiple books.

Tiki Barber College

Tiki attended the University of Virginia on an academic scholarship to major in business. Barber became an accomplished college athlete and still maintained his focus on his studies. Tiki broke the University of Virginia’s long jump record on his first jump, and put the University of Virginia’s football program back on the map. Barber finished his college career with 651 carries for 3,389 yards with and 31 touchdowns, and 64 receptions for 602 yards with 2 touchdowns.

Tiki Barber Age | How Old Is Tiki Barber?

Atiim Kiambu Barber was born on April 7, 1975 in Roanoke, Virginia. He is 43 years old as of 2018.

Tiki Barber Family

Barber was born to Geraldine and James Barber. His father was a star running back at Virginia Tech and later played in the World Football League. Tiki has an older brother, Tarik Barber. Tiki and his twin brother were born five weeks premature. He was born seven minutes after his identical brother Ronde Barber. Barber’s parents divorced when he was young and their father never provided financial support and he rarely saw his sons when they were growing up. Their mother worked to sometimes three jobs to support her three sons.

Tiki And Ronde Barber | Tiki Barber Brother | Tiki Barber Twin

Tiki was named Atiim Kiambu meaning “fiery-tempered king” because he was screaming shortly after his birth. Ronde was a cornerback who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and also won Super Bowl XXXVII against the Oakland Raiders.

Tiki Barber Ex Wife

Tiki married his University of Virginia sweetheart Virginia Cha Barber on May 15, 1999 and they resided in Upper East Side New York City with Virginia’s parents living in an en suite. Virginia of Korean and Vietnamese descent was a fashion publicist for Zegna, a men’s designer-clothing label.

While Virginia was seven months pregnant with their twin daughters on April 5, 2010, it was announced that Barber and his wife were separating after 11 years of marriage. It later became public thet he had left Cha for 23-year old Traci Lynn Johnson.

Traci Lynn Johnson Tiki Barber | Tiki Barber Wife

Just eight days after Barber’s divorce from Cha was final, on 20 July 2012, Tiki and Johnson married in a simple civil ceremony in a New York courtroom.

Tiki Barber Kids | Tiki Barber Children

Tiki and his first wife Cha has two sons, A.J. (Atiim Kiambu Junior) born July 8, 2002 and Chason born March 18, 2004. He has twin daughters Riley and Ella born May 24, 2010. He also has two daughters ; Brooklyn was born on December 27, 2013. Their second daughter, and Tiki’s sixth child, Teagan, was born in July 2016.

Tiki Barber Career

Initially, he was considered a third-down, “change of pace” back, Tiki became a standout starting running back and the all-time leader in rushing yards in New York Giants history. He was the NFL’s top yardage gainer from the line of scrimmage in 2005. Barber was voted by his peers to three Pro Bowls. Barber gained the most yards from scrimmage by any NFL running back in that 4-year period from 2003 to 2006.

Barber revealed his intention to retire at the end of the 2006 NFL season in October 2006. He had previously indicated his desire to retire at some point and pursue a broadcasting career. When questioned why a player at the peak of his game would retire, he cited the toll the physical nature of football takes on a person’s body and that he “simply couldn’t take it anymore”. He was highly critiqued for his decision to retire at his prime. Tiki declined a reported 50 million dollar / 2 year contract with the New York Giants.

Tiki Barber Super Bowl

During his career with the Giants, the team never won a championship, a top goal of Tiki’s that he spoke publicly about in 2005. When announcing his retirement, Tiki seemed at peace to leave the game without a Super Bowl ring. He said, “I used to think my career was defined by not winning a Super Bowl. But I think looking back on my career, they’ll see someone who was a competitor, someone who always played hard and never gave up.” Barber officially filed his retirement papers with the Players Association on February 12, 2007.

In the very next NFL season following his retirement, the New York Giants went on to defeat the previously undefeated 18–0 New England Patriots to win Super Bowl XLII in one of the greatest upsets in sports history. He was present to cover the event, but he was not well received by most of his former teammates and Giants’ fans, after his disparaging remarks about his former teammate and Giants quarterback, Eli Manning.

Tiki Barber Broadcasting Career

After he retired from the NFL, Tiki began a second career as a television broadcaster. He immediately landed a role with NBC in which he contributed to the Today program. He covered sports for NBC Sports, and also hosted entertainment events for NBC Universal. On February 13, 2007, Tiki was introduced as a correspondent for NBC’s Today and analyst for Football Night in America/Sunday Night Football. It came after a competition for his services was waged between ABC, FOX, NFL, and NBC. As a Today correspondent, he anchored lifestyle segments and reports on news stories. Barber was rumored to be a potential long-term candidate for Matt Lauer’s co-host position on Today. However, Matt renewed his contract with NBC in 2012 and was later fired on November 29, 2017.

He is unusual among retired athletes in his desire to cover hard news and political stories. Barber cited a lunch with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the highlight of his year in 2006.

Tiki gained broadcasting experience while still an NFL player. On television, Tiki co-hosted the morning news program Fox & Friends on select Tuesday mornings. On radio, he hosted Barber Shop a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio with Ronde during the football season. During the offseason, he hosted a political and general interest radio program; Senator John McCain was his first interviewee. He originally began his broadcasting career on WFAN radio and the WCBS local news in New York.

He filled the spot of Willie Geist on the MSNBC program Morning Joe while Geist was on vacation in May 2008.

In August 2008, He helped broadcast the 2008 Summer Olympics on MSNBC in August 2008 and was also a commentator for Yahoo! sports for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The New York Post reported that NBC has dropped him from his contributor’s role on NBC’s The Today Show On Wednesday, June 23, 2010. He was quietly let go in May 2010 by the network after his contract was not renewed by NBC earlier that year.

He appeared as a studio pundit on the BBC’s Super Bowl XLV coverage.

He is a radio host for CBS Sports Radio with Brandon Tierney, Tiki & Tierney. It is a national show on Weekday afternoons airing 3 – 6 pm (EST).

Tiki Barber Book

Barber’s book, Tiki: My Life and the Game Beyond was published on September 18, 2007. The autobiography was co-written by Gil Reavill. Tiki Barber’s Pure Hard Workout his second book, which was released on November 13, 2008, by Gotham Books, reveals his intensive lifting program. The book was coauthored by his trainer, Joe Carini.

Tiki And Ronde Barber Books

Tiki Barber Stats | Tiki Barber Career Stats

Tiki Barber Giants

Tiki Barber Jersey

Tiki Barber Height

Barber stands at a height of 1.78 m.

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Tiki Barber Highlights

Tiki Barber Hall Of Fame

Phil Simms and Tiki Barber nominated to 2018 Hall of Fame

Published; Sep 13, 2017

Source; https://247sports.com

Tiki Barber and Phil Simms were two New York Giants intentionally named as 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame nominees on Tuesday.

Repeat nominees included punter Sean Landeta, center Bart Oates, linebacker Carl Banks, tight end Mark Bavaro, and offensive tackle Lomas Brown.

In addition, former Giants second-round pick Steve Smith was also named, but that was likely a mistake and it caused a massive outpour of anger on Twitter.