At home with Shaquille O'Neal

Ebony, March, 1995 by Lisa C. Jones

To vent his feelings about the situation, Shaq says he did it the best way he knew how - through rap. The result? A top single, "Biological Didn't Bother," the first release off the basketball star's second album, Shaq Fu: Da Return.

O'Neal may not want to rekindle a relationship with his natural father, but he is quick to shower his closest relatives with fine gifts. He bought houses for his grandparents in Newark and purchased a charming home in Orlando for his parents. He also presented the Harrisons with his-and-her Mercedes-Benzes. In O'Neal's eyes, such lavish gifts are just his way of saying, "Family always comes first."

His strong convictions about family are what drives him to advise children to look up to their to their parents, not sports celebrities, as role models. "I don't think children should try to be like Shaq," he says. "There are only a few kids I can directly affect. Parents need to be the role models. My parents were [the people] I looked up to as a kid. And I still do."

Yet, the young athlete with the bald noggin and Shaft-inspired sideburns (who usually sports a skull cap, a thick gold bracelet and a huge ring with his jersey number [32] outlined with diamonds), enjoys touching the lives of youngsters. Each year, he brightens the lives of children and adults alike by donating toys at Christmas, food to local shelters at Thanksgiving, gift packets to terminally ill and disadvantaged youths doing most home games and flowers to nurses at local hospitals on Valentine's Day.

On the personal front, O'Neal's heart belongs to his girlfriend of two years. Although he won't reveal her name, it only takes a few minutes of speaking to him to realize that the romance the two share is special to him. "She's a real sweet young lady. She's a regular person, not a Hollywood type," he says of the business major he met at a dance club in Houston. "She reminds me of my mother." At one time the sports star was romantically linked to actress Holly Robinson. Those reports, he says, were exaggerated. "It was nothing," he contends. "We just dated a few times."

It's been a long road toward self-actualization for the young man who used to stutter and intentionally slump over, at age 14, to hide his 6-foot-8 frame. But today, the NBA All-Star uses his height to dominate on the court. Thanks to Shaqs domination, this season could turn out to be the best yet for O'Neal and his team. As the NBA's top dunker, he leads the league (to date) in points, averaging 30 points a game, and he is among the NBA's best in shooting and rebounds. As for the only perceivable flaw in his game - a free-throw average which hovers around 55 percent - O'Neal insists that improvement is in the air. "I'm working on it," he says while grimacing. "It's not that bad at practice, but when I'm on the court, it's a whole different story."

O'Neal's pace off the court is just as frenzied as it is on. There always seems to be a new project for him to launch or complete, such as his new martial arts video game, Shaq Fu, his new rap single, "No Hooks," and plans for his next film, which he hopes will be an action adventure. ("I think it would be cool to have a Black `Terminator' against Arnold Schwarzenegger," he says.) Plus, the off season is the one time of the year when O'Neal can work to complete course work toward the business degree he began at LSU before turning pro.