With Christmas around the corner, Shaquille O’Neal’s Santa spirit is getting stoked too. Shaq has grown to be quite the gift-giver. However, the Hall of Famer revealed he has not received a gift in over 30 years. And whenever he has received them — from his children — he kept them safely tucked away, unopened. The big fella’s little holiday-season quirk has got everything to do with how deeply he connects with Santa Claus.
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“I always tell my family, ‘Show me a movie where Santa receives a gift and I’ll let you buy me a gift’,” said O’Neal in an interview withPeople Magazine.
Once December arrives, Shaq always thinks about others, much like Santa. Since 1992, from the time he became the family’s breadwinner, O’Neal decided to personify Santa in spirit and deed. And O’Neal takes his Santa holiday moniker pretty seriously. In an episode of The Big Podcast, he elaborated:
“Ever since the God Lord blessed me [with the means] to take care of everybody, I became Santa,” Shaq said. “Hope there aren’t any kids listening to his podcast, but my father let me know early, ‘There ain’t no Santa’.”
Shaq added that his happiness lies in the joy of others in the family. “As long as everybody else is happy, I’m happy,” he said.
Santa Shaq, however, has not refused when people close to him attempted to give him gifts. His children, of course, has the right to gift their father on Christmas. But O’Neal hasn’t opened any of the boxes.
“I take it, I got a storage room with 30 years’ worth of gifts, ” O’Neal revealed. “I’ll open it up one day.”
The 15-time All-Star confessed that the gift-giving has become easier ever since his children have grown up. Money has become the preferred gift of choice now. Definitely a far cry from when they were younger.
The Lakers legend had also endured the arduous task of visiting a toy store to pick gifts during the holidays. He even had to negotiate a time slot with the store because Shaq, generous as he is with gifting, was known to buy everything out.
“I would have to go into Toys R Us [at] like 11:58, right before they closed, and then just wipe them out,” Shaq revealed. “A lot of times, they didn’t want me to come in Toys R Us early because they didn’t want me to buy all the toys so I’d have to come in late, right before closing. They let me take the leftovers.”
The last-minute runs to Toys R Us are in the past since his children are young adults now. But his gift-giving spirit is as strong as it has ever been.
Shaq’s best gift
O’Neal may not be receiving gifts anymore, but he is grateful for the ones he has got in the past. And one gift stands above them all, Shaq had revealed in 2015.
It came from his adoptive father, Philip Harrison. While growing up, Shaq’s family was struggling to make ends meet. And one Christmas, he was convinced he would not receive a gift. The financial situation was that tight. Shaq understood that his sisters would be given priority. But then, Harrison surprised him with the best gift ever, a basketball signed by his idol Julius Erving.
On Christmas morning, O’Neal’s father took him outside to play ball. “One morning, everybody was out opening presents and I thought, I wasn’t getting a present and he opened the door, Let’s go play some ball. Boom, and there was a Dr. J ball,” Shaq recalled.
Needless to say, the gift touched his heart. Shaq’s attempt since then has been to gift others the same feeling he felt the moment when his father presented him the Dr. J ball.
