by Justin Guillory
Shaquille O'Neal is one of the best basketball players in the world. Many people consider him as the best center in the world. He is also on the US Dream Team which will compete at the1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He is an all-star and on the Orlando Magic.
Dale Brown, coach of Louisiana State University (LSU), was at the base coaching a clinic when he came up to Shaquille (Shaquille was 13 years old and 6'6'' at the time). Dale Brown asked him what part of the army he was in an Shaquille said he was only in school. After that, Dale Brown went straight to Shaquille's father and talked to him.
Later the O'neals moved to Texas. There his father helped him a lot. Many times his father would take Shaquille out of his high school games because he wasn't playing his hardest even when the game was not close. This taught Shaquille to play hard. Once in his senior year his father did this. The next game he scored 50 points. The next day he had recruiting letters from Georgetown and North Carolina.
For college Shaquille chose LSU because he already new Dale Brown. There he had an amazing career.
One game he set the college record for shot blocks in a game. His junior year he was awarded many player of the year awards. He left college after his junior season and
entered the NBA draft. There he was selected first by the Orlando Magic.
For Orlando he has led them to the NBA Championship last year, but they lost to the Houston Rockets. In the NBA he has scored over 20 points a game. He is also one of the NBA's best shot blockers. Every year he has been an All-Star.
