As a 19-year-old newly turned professional, Shaquille O’Neal was determined to get people to “remember his name”.
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When talking about the game’s greatest big men, Shaquille O’Neal is the one name that is brought up in the same conversation as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, and Hakeem Olajuwon among several others.
The former Lakers legend weighed a massive 325 pounds, and Shaq would manage to dominate the paint using this gigantic stature of his. By bullying grown men on a daily basis, O’Neal managed to rack up a pretty illustrious resume.
By the conclusion of his near-two-decade-long career, “The Big Aristotle” ended up as one of the most accomplished stars in the modern NBA. The Hall-Of-Famer’s overly-stacked trophy cabinet included 15 All-Star appearances, 14 All-NBA selections, 3 All-Defensive selections, 2 scoring titles, the 1993 ROY, the 2000 MVP, 4 NBA championships, and 3 Finals MVPs, among several other accolades.
“At the end I gotta make them remember my name”: Shaquille O’Neal
After years of dominance, and finding success off the hardwood, Shaq is one of the most famous personalities in the sporting world. However, there was one point in his career when a younger O’Neal just wanted people to “remember his name”.
During an interview, the former Lakers legend spoke about his aspirations of being in movies as a youngster. He further stated how Arsenio Hall would call him numerous times, post getting drafted in 1992, to make an appearance on the show.
O’Neal’s only concern at the time – to let people know who he was.
“I never wanted to do movies. Thought about it, dreamed about it. So when I got drafted Arsenio Hall kept calling me ‘hey man, I want you to come on the show’. But it always go back to the story I told you earlier. My mother said ‘make them remember your name’. I don’t wanna come in your show, Arsenio, in a $5000 suit and tell you corny stories and have you laugh. I’m gonna do that cause that’s the format. But at the end I gotta make them remember my name.”
It is pretty safe to say that the mass knows who Shaquille O’Neal is.
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