Shaquille O’Neal has always maintained that his stepfather, Sergeant Phillip A. Harrison is the only dad that he has ever needed. However, before his mother, Lucille O’Neal met Harrison, Shaq once stepped up to protect his mother as a mere toddler.
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Back then, Lucille was alone as a young single mom, trying to figure life out together. Being the eldest child, even a very young Shaq felt a strong sense of responsibility toward his family. Some of the excerpts from his mother Lucille’s testimony in the book, ‘Shaq Talks Back’ prove just that.
The only things most 7 or 8-year-olds are worried about are probably what’s the best candy to buy or what games to play on their computer, or something frivolous along those lines. However, Shaq had to instead show a deep sense of maturity in the absence of a father figure in the household.
Mother Lucille was struggling to make ends meet at the time, and getting food on the table was never easy. When you consider the fact that she was still very young, being stuck in a bad part of town with a car full of kids must have been a nerve-racking experience for her. But that’s exactly what happened.
Due to a flat tire, Shaq and a pregnant Lucille were stuck in the Ironbound section of Newark. Knowing the neighborhood, she and her kids were forced to be close to the car. All she could manage to do in that situation was to sit on the curb and sob endlessly.
But in her words, that is when Shaq, who was ‘7-8 years old’ at the time, stepped out of the car to help his dear mother out. Here is the excerpt in question from the book ‘Shaq Talks Back’, that came from a letter written by Lucille O’Neal.
“In 1979, I was pregnant with one of my daughters…It was almost pitch-dark down there. I didn’t know how to change a flat tire…I’m a young mother in a bad part of town. The only thing I could do is just get out of the car, sit on the curb and cry.”
“All of a sudden, Shaquille got out and came up to me. He must have been only seven or eight years old at the time. He didn’t cry…’Ma, it’s gonna be all right,’ he said…So I knew that I could depend on him from that day. We sat there for a minute and a man came along and helped me. Shaquille helped the man fix the tire. From that day, Shaquille was always there for me. He still is there for me. He’s my protector,” Mother Lucille added.
Even for an adult, what Shaquille O’Neal did was an incredible act of bravery. And the maturity he displayed, especially at his tender age, is almost unbelievable. And that side of him never changed.
Shaquille O’Neal used his first big salary to pay off his parents’ debts
Shaquille O’Neal’s first NBA contract gave him $3 million after he was drafted by the Orlando Magic. While that may not seem like much by today’s standards, it was something akin to a godsend to Shaq and his family at the time. And the then-young man knew exactly what to do with it.
Immediately, the Big Diesel took out $150,000 from his paycheck to wipe away all the financial debt of his parents. Shaq has also revealed on numerous occasion that he worked hard to provide his mother with a comfortable life.
