For the school's football team he played quarterback and was named All-City by the Arizona Daily Star.

[1][3] He was named the Arizona High school Player of the Year in 1982 and also selected to the 1982 All American Baseball Team.

Khalifa was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates as the seventh overall selection in the 1982 Major League Baseball Draft.

[6] In 1983, he played for the Alexandria Dukes of the Class A Carolina League and made the All Star team, batting .270 in 103 games,[7] and received five games of playing time for the Lynn Sailors of the Class AA Eastern League.

[2] Khalifa started the 1985 season with the Hawaii Islanders of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League,[10] and after batting .282 for the Islanders, he made his MLB debut on June 25, 1985, replacing the injured Johnnie LeMaster, becoming the sixth player to start for the Pirates at shortstop during the 1985 season.

Jerry Dybzinski received one game at shortstop for the Pirates, who was followed by Bill Almon, and the trade acquisition of LeMaster from the Cleveland Indians.

[3] Joe L. Brown, the former general manager of the Pirates, arranged a tryout for Khalifa with the San Diego Padres in 1990.

His primary historical importance arises from his status as the first man of Egyptian descent to play major league baseball.

[13] Trinidad and Tobago national Glen Cusford Francis was arrested in Calgary on April 28, 2009, in connection with the elder Khalifa's murder.