Shaquille O’Neal’s magnanimous life is an intriguing set of chronicles that continues to intrigue the public. His NBA career is pretty well-documented for his fans to devour. However, for Shaq, it was his LSU days that he enjoyed the most. Shaq even claimed that he was fortunate to have coach Dale Brown with him in this “perfect place“.
Advertisement
In his 2011 memoir Shaq Uncut: My Story, co-authored by Jackie Macmullan, the big fella raved about the time he spent in LSU. One of the advantages of his college stint was how easily he could fly to his mother and spend a ton of time with her because of the low ticket prices. In his 2011 memoir, Shaq revealed, “It[LSU] was also a six-hour drive from my[Shaq’s] mom. I had to see my mom. But fortunately, back then, a plane ticket on Southwest was $59, so I got plenty of time with her.”
A big perk of being at LSU in those days was the financial freedom Shaq experienced at a young age. The University allowed jobs that could amount to $15 per hour, which was way over the federal minimum wage in the late 1980s. The LSU Center also qualified for the Pell Grant for students from low income families, which covered his college fees. These facilities made Shaq feel that he had run into a ton of money. Back then, the now multi-millionaire was jubilant with just getting his basic needs covered while having some extra cash on his hands. In Shaq Uncut, he stated, “I[Shaq] was convinced I was rich. Free food in the dining hall and some pocket money. I had died and gone to heaven.”
This is why he called the time spent in LSU “the best three years of my life.” And when you have a coach who is looking out for you at every turn, it is smooth sailing. O’Neal cherished his time with coach Dale Brown, who was at LSU’s helm for two-plus decades.
”Dale Brown was an excellent coach and an even better person. He’s one of my best friends in the world. He stuck up for me a hundred different times,” Shaq acknowledged in his 2011 memoir.
For O’Neal, his time at LSU remains unparalleled and having a great group of people around him made that possible. But when he was in college, the man with limited means had to pretend that he was rich so that women could find him attractive.
Shaquille O’Neal used a hilarious trick to impress women
In his early days in the program, Shaq wanted to show everyone that he was rich. To display his wealth, he tried to portray himself as a VIP with a car phone, which was considered a luxury in those times. In his 2011 autobiography, the big fella wrote, “Even though I didn’t have any money, I wanted people on campus to think I did. I was The Man and I had to act the part, so I took a phone from my dorm room and I put a phony wire underneath my Bronco and pretended I had a car phone.”
However, it was against the college rules for a student to use a car phone on campus. Ultimately, LSU supervisor Bo found out about the charade. But Shaq pleaded him to hush the matter so that his reputation wasn’t stained in front of women.
“Someone saw me with it[fake phone] and called Bo, and he came down and I had to show him it was phony. “Don’t tell the ladies,” I told Bo, giving him a wink. He promised he wouldn’t,” added Shaq.
The 7’1″ Center could get away with such a violation because of his value to the University’s basketball program. For a lot of NBA fans, these kinds of stories aren’t surprising when it comes to O’Neal. He has built a dynamic reputation by now and his shenanigans don’t surprise the fans anymore. At any rate, the notorious prankster had been pulling off such moves since his college days.
