Shaquille O’Neal knew from his high school days that he’d be a special player. His coaches in colleges and teams in the NBA shared that sentiment when he bullied his peers during his time at LSU. However, his late grandmother Odessa Chambliss was the first to have unwavering faith that he would go on to achieve great things in life.
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During an appearance on the Vault Empowers Talks, O’Neal’s mother Lucille revealed that she was ashamed and confused when the Hall of Famer was born in 1972, as she was only 17. But Odessa stood by her daughter and accurately predicted that her grandchild was no ordinary newborn. Lucille said,
“My mother looked at [Shaq] and said, ‘There’s something special about that one.’ I didn’t know what to do. Had it not been for my mother and grandmother, I would have been lost… I don’t think she [thought he would become a sports phenom]. I think she saw that he was a special child because of the way he got here. He shouldn’t have been here.”
O’Neal’s father, Joseph Toney, was absent from his and Lucille’s lives. She had no choice but to raise him alone. However, Odessa stepped up and helped her daughter raise her son.
Shaq only has fond memories of his grandmother, who always encouraged him to follow his dreams and took great care of him. When she passed away on April 2nd, 1996, the four-time NBA champion wanted to commission the construction of a gold mausoleum and make it her final resting place.
However, Odessa had made it known that she wanted to be buried beside her husband, so her grandson honored her wishes. But he was keen on paying tribute to his late grandmother and decided to do so on the basketball court.
O’Neal’s homage to his grandmother
O’Neal decided that every year, he’d play as well as he could on April 2nd as a tribute to Odessa. He never let anyone know until he wrote about it in his book ‘Shaq Uncut,’ where he also paid homage to his grandmother and revealed that he misses her.
“Since she passed away, I have privately dedicated every game played on April 2 to her. I go to work for her that day. I once scored 50 points against the Nets on April 2, but I never told anyone what motivated me. Odessa Chambliss still motivates me. She was a great woman, and sometimes I still can’t believe she’s gone.”
O’Neal scored 50 points and hauled in nine rebounds in the aforementioned game against the Nets on April 2nd, 1998. The Lakers won 117-106. He averaged an incredible 28.9 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists in seven games on that date after Odessa’s passing in 1996.
It usually took a high-stakes game like the playoffs to push O’Neal to try his hardest on the court. But he would get locked every time he played on April 2nd as an ode to his grandmother.
