Shaquille O’Neal had an illustrious college career at Louisiana State University. The 7’1″ center was even the SEC Player of the Year on two different occasions, averaging 21.6 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in three seasons with the Tigers. But unknown to most, O’Neal could have committed to the University of North Carolina but didn’t because of an experience with UNC legend, Rick Fox.
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While on his show, ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq’, the Lakers legend revealed how Rick Fox, a former UNC player, caused a young O’Neal to not sign with the prestigious college programme at North Carolina. Talking about it briefly, Shaq revealed,
“So I went to North Carolina. I didn’t like Rick Fox…No, this is what happened. He took me to one of those parties..all the girls went to him.”
During the show, Shaq also mentioned going to NC State and the University of Illinois but ruled out going to Illinois due to the weather being ‘too cold’ for his liking. He did get more out of his experience touring NC State, facing the “original Shaq”, Charles Shackleford. O’Neal instantly decided to adopt the moniker “Shaq”, even copying Shackleford’s style while he was at it. While Shaq isn’t usually very pleasant to the people he doesn’t admire, he developed a bond with his college rival Fox.
Shaquille O’Neal and Rick Fox became teammates
Even though Shaquille O’Neal and Rick Fox never played on the same team in college, they did manage to link up during their careers in the NBA. The duo became teammates while O’Neal was with the Lakers, with Fox becoming an integral part of the Lakers three-peat era.
The relationship between Shaq and Fox seemed to have always been ‘cordial’, even before they became teammates. The duo also shared the ‘big screen’ on two different occasions. The first opportunity came in the year 1994, with the movie “Blue Chips“. Even though the movie wasn’t very successful with the audience, it did receive critical acclaim for its unique subject matter, underlying issues of dealings in the collegiate system.
The second opportunity came just four years later, with the movie ‘He Got Game‘ which was headlined by Academy Award-winning actor, Denzel Washington. This time around, the movie did even worse at theatres, sounding the end of any more Shaq-Fox collaborations. On the court, the duo was significantly more successful, winning three NBA Championships together.
