Sheriff Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘SWAT’ Dreams Were Buried By a ‘100 Feet’ Rope: “Don’t Think This is For You”

Shaquille O’Neal might go down as one of the most dominant NBA players of all time. However, he still had other dreams. One of them was to become a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team member. Back in 2002, the LA Lakers star had enrolled himself in a police academy in the hope of passing the test. While he was able to pass the conditioning and verbal tests, he also needed to climb a 100 feet rope in the air in order to pass.

Shaq went at it with full vigor, and tried a number of times, but could not climb up the rope. In his book Shaq Uncut: My Story, O’Neal revealed that he was finally told by the supervising officer that a spot in the SWAT team was ‘not for him.’ O’Neal was named an honorary US deputy Marshall in 2005, and is also Florida’s Broward County’s honorary sheriff deputy, which is why he is sometimes called ‘Sherrif.’

Shaquille O’Neal almost became a SWAT officer, but could not complete one single task

The LA Lakers and Orlando Magic legend had been enrolled in the LA Police Academy for a number of years. He was determined to become a SWAT officer. So, he took up the physical and academic tests alongside his jam-packed NBA career.

While the sit-ups, the conditions tests, and all other physical exercises did not prove to be a challenge, a rope climb proved impossible for Shaq. O’Neal apparently tried to shimmy himself up the 100 feet rope dozens of times but ended up sliding down each time.

With all the other tests completed, Shaq knew that he only needed to climb the rope in order to become a SWAT officer. However, it proved impossible, as O’Neal explained himself he was too big:

“I was too big. I’d grab onto that thing and haul myself up, but I wasn’t able to hang on.”

This led to the supervising officer finally telling him to stop:

“Shaquille, I don’t think this is for you.”

Shaq once came across a gory dead body as a reserve police officer

O’Neal dreamt about becoming a police officer right from his childhood. During his time at the Miami Heat, Shaq enrolled himself as a firearms-certified reserve police officer.

Shaq was eventually moved to a safer department and joined a team called the Cargo Cats. The team specialized in searching for stolen cargo and cars. During one raid, Shaq came across a dead body of a young man:

“We get to the car and there’s a guy, about nineteen or twenty years old, with a piece of his head blown off. It was gang-related. He still had a shotgun sitting in his lap, but a good chunk of his head was gone. I wish I could tell you I’ve never seen anything like it, but I have”