It’s common to assume that a talent like Shaquille O’Neal had an easy road to the NBA. People often think that scouts must be hounding the big fella since he was in middle school. But the reality was quite the opposite. Shaq was, in fact, cut from his high school team his freshman and Sophomore years. But things changed when LSU coach Dale Brown offered him a scholarship regardless.
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Shaq recounted the story of how he got to play for his alma mater, LSU, to Angel Reese, who is also an alum of the institution and famously led the Tigers to the 2023 National Championship, during a sit-down on Unapologetically Angel. After he got cut from his high school team, the big fella considered going to the army. But coach Brown would stop him from doing so.
Shaq was 13 when he met coach Brown in Germany. His stepdad, Sergeant Phillip Harrison, was posted in a US army base in the German town of Wildflecken. One day Harrison informed Shaq that an American college coach is visiting the local gym. So he should go and meet him to try to get a scholarship.
However, Shaq knew that he wasn’t smart enough to get a college scholarship. But he also didn’t have the courage to defy his father’s orders. So the 13-year-old picked up the dictionary to look for some big words in a last-minute attempt to appear smart. The word he picked was ‘extremeties’. However, the meaning he did not.
“I memorized this word, I didn’t even know what it means…I memorized this word, ‘Extremities, Extremities…’ So we get to the camp and Coach Brown is talking to the all the guys that are better then me…After everybody leaves, I sneak up…’Can you send me to a program to strengthen m-m-m-my [he had a stutter at the time] lower extremities?‘” Shaq told Reese.
He thought that Brown was impressed by his ingenious vocabulary. But the veteran coach was more interested in his size, which was 6 feet 6″ even at 13. When the LSU coach learned that Shaq was not in the military but just an adolescent kid, he “grabbed [him] like he found the biggest bundle of gold ever.”
But O’Neal was cut from his high school team again after that interaction. This frustrated him so much that he decided to quit basketball for good and join the army instead like his dad. He informed coach Brown of his decision in a melancholic letter, which prompted the then LSU head coach to immediately offer the big guy a scholarship.
As a result, Shaq’s basketball dream was reignited.
The big fella, however, repaid coach Brown’s favor by staying faithful to his commitment to go to LSU when he had lots of options before his freshman year in college. That decision would lead to a relationship with the institution that Shaq still holds in high regard.
The Tigers have also retired Shaq’s #33 jersey to commemorate his notable stint at the Louisiana University.
