“Metal Braces on the Other”: 15-Year-Old Shaquille O’Neal Was Ignored by High School Coach in German Base Owing to Osgood-Schlatter Disease

When he was 15 years old, Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t acknowledged by a basketball coach in Germany. Because of the condition called Osgood-Schlatter, he was unable to be effective and had to live with a lot of pain. This disease causes immense pain and swelling below the knee joint. This is the area that connects the patellar tendon to the top of the shinbone. Due to this grueling ordeal, he couldn’t perform many movements without pain and had to use braces on his knees. Therefore, the early basketball journey of The Big Aristotle got off to a rocky start. However, he turned it around once he got back to the USA. 

In his 2011 book, Shaq Uncut, he revealed, “The coach of the team never even acknowledged me. He never looked at me, never bothered to learn my name. I don’t blame him, I guess. I was terrible.”

In 1984, O’Neal’s stepfather US Army Sargeant Phillip Harrison took him to Germany for two years. He was stationed at an American Army Base, located in Wildflecken, West Germany. Shaq picked up basketball during those days but having hurt knees culled his effectiveness. Therefore, he had to use metal braces to minimize the suffering caused by Osgood-Schlatter. 

“My knees were really bad at that time, and I had one of those brown knee braces with the hole in it on one knee and metal braces on the other because of my Osgood-Schlatter disease. I couldn’t do anything. It hurt too much,” added Shaq.

Despite this limitation, the former Lakers Center became one of the most dominant players. His path was mired by a lot of thorns.

Shaquille O’Neal stamps his name

When a 15-year-old Shaq tried out for the high school team located at the American base in Germany, he didn’t make the roster. Despite being 6’8” at the time, he couldn’t get in because his mechanics were raw and he played clumsily. He felt deflated and thought that his playing style wasn’t suited for high-level basketball. This is when coach Ford McMurty gave him a chance. He was the assistant coach of the squad that had cut him earlier but left to form his team.

The patience of McMurty helped Shaq become resilient and he sought to improve his game. Upon returning to the United States, he changed his game style completely. He enrolled in Robert G. Cole High School and he guided the team to a 68-1 record. Then he led his school to a state championship during his senior year under coach Dave Madura. Madura was so mesmerized by the LSU-bound athlete that he cried after they won the championship. He predicted, “You’re going to do great things in college.”

Thus, O’Neal had already become popular before coming to LSU. As coach Madura prophesized, he earned a bunch of huge honors at LSU, including winning the SEC Player of the Year award twice. This was just the start of a breathtaking journey that led The Big Aristotle to 3x NBA Finals, an MVP, and 15x NBA All-Star appearances, to name a few accomplishments.