Shaquille O’Neal holds his stepfather, Phillip A. Harrison in the highest regard. He considers Sergeant Phillip to have imbibed discipline and confidence in him. Shaq led a strict lifestyle under both his parents Lucille and Phillip, which reflects on his current personality. However, he is very much estranged from his biological father, Joe Toney.
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Although one would think Shaq’s biological father would not keep in touch, he was very much in contact with Sarge Phillip. In fact, the two had faced each other playing basketball in high school. In a letter penned by the Sergeant as mentioned in Shaq Talks Back, he talked about how Joe Toney would entrust his future NBA star son in the safe hands of Phillip Harrison.
Joe Toney was a high-school basketball player who suffered from a bad case of drug addiction. He was also imprisoned for drug possession when Shaq was an infant. However, after his release, he never chose to reconnect with Shaq’s mother Lucille, and his infant son. Lucille then married Phillip Harrison, who was a sergeant in the United States Army.
Shaquille O’Neal’s stepfather once revealed that his biological father was still in touch with him
In the book Shaq Talks Back, Shaquille O’Neal added an excerpt from a letter penned by his stepfather Phillip A. Harrison. In that letter, it was detailed how Phillip and Joe knew each other since their high school days. It also mentioned an incident, meeting Joe Toney at a park in Newark. There, Toney asked Harrison to take care of his son as he had his own son to take care of. The excerpt from the letter read as follows.
“I got home and saw Joe down at the park. We got to talking about Shaquille, who was then about fourteen years old. ‘Listen, Phil,’ he told me. ‘We know each other. Our word of mouth is a bond. Shaquille is your son. You take care of him. I’ve got my own son to take care of now.’ I said, ‘OK.’ I shook his hand and moved on.”
By the time Shaq was at LSU on an athletic scholarship, his popularity had started growing. He was already touted to be a star in the NBA and a top prospect. Sergeant Phil kept notes on how Joe Toney would use that opportunity to get in touch with his estranged son. Phil further wrote in the letter,
“When Shaquille was at LSU, I started to get calls from the school that Joe Toney was trying to get in touch with him. Then he’s on the Ricki Lake show. After all these years, Joe was trying to get back in his life. I wasn’t sure what to do or how to react to something like that. But Shaquille took care of it. ”
Despite several attempts by Toney to connect with his biological son, Shaq didn’t budge. He would remain estranged from him for decades, until Phillip Harrison’s death in 2013.
Shaq wrote a rap song about his relationship with his fathers
In his 1994 album Shaq Fu: The Return, Shaquille O’Neal expressed his feelings about his fathers in the song ‘Biological Didn’t Bother.’ He paid his respect and tribute to his stepfather with the verse “Phil is my father.” Sergeant Phillip got to know about this when his daughters informed him of the song that Shaq dedicated to him.
Years later, Shaq would meet his biological father for the first time in 2016. On seeing him, Shaq told, “I don’t hate you. I had a good life. I had Phil.”
