Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille O'Neal

Would you be scared of a 7’1”, 315-pound man? Why should you, when it’s Shaq. Shaq is a gentle giant with a big, kind heart. He gives millions of his earnings to charities, foundations, the unfortunate, and many other helping organizations. His scary stature comes on the court, where he is a dominating force.

Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal was born on March 6th, 1972, in Newark. He was the son of Lucille and Philip O’Neal. Shaq has two sisters, Lateefah and Ayesha and a brother Jamal. Shaq and his family grew up on Army bases in New Jersey, San Antonio, Georgia, and Germany. Moving around a lot made it hard on Shaq. He could never establish any long-term childhood relationships. He was known as an outcast throughout his childhood because of his size. At the age of 13, he was 6’5”. Being an outcast caused him to seek out attention by carrying out childhood pranks, which would often get him in trouble. Soon Shaq thought about sports, but as his body rapidly changed he could not get comfortable with himself. His 9th grade basketball team cut him, but luckily enough soon after that, his family moved to San Antonio. Here Shaq made the team and brought them to a 68-1 record. In his freshman year, he averaged 32 pts, 22 rebounds, and 8 blocks per game. After high school, Shaq attended LSU. In college he was also a dominant force. Shaq entered the NBA Draft following his junior year at LSU and was selected by the Orlando Magic with the overall first pick. His rookie year, he earned the honors of ‘Rookie of the Year’. After a few seasons with the Magic he became a free agent and signed a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers worth 120 Million. After winning three championships with the Lakers, Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat in 2004, where he is still currently playing.

"Shaq-a-Claus"

Shaq is not only one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but he is a great person too. Shaq has given millions of dollars of his money to many organizations, mainly in helping children. You can always see Shaq doing something great. Probably his most famous charitable act is when he is ‘Shaq-a-Claus’. Every year Shaq buys truckloads of toys around Christmas time and takes them to the unfortunate neighborhoods and hands out the toys himself. Shaq is like a big kid himself, so he is very quick in helping out children in need.

Every body loves and respects the big man, due to his on court game, attitude, personality, kind heart and comedy. Shaq is truly an everyday hero to many and brings smiles to many people's faces.