For someone who’s made more money off the court than most athletes do in a lifetime, Shaquille O’Neal keeps his priorities remarkably grounded — and personal.
In a video posted last week by veteran San Antonio sportscaster Don Harris, the NBA Hall of Famer revisited his old high school where his legend first started taking shape. “My favorite movie is Superman II, where he goes back to the North Pole or wherever he from and gets his power back,” he said. “So every time I’m in San Antonio, I always come here.”
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Driving through the streets where he grew up, Shaq reflected on the early days — when his biggest dream wasn’t private jets or multi-million-dollar endorsements, but to make $800,000 a year, buy a modest house, a Mercedes, and a Jimmy Blazer. “By the time I got there,” he admitted, “the money was just so enormous.”
Shaq may have earned over $280 million during his NBA career and gone on to invest in everything from Krispy Kreme to real estate and his own Big Chicken restaurant chain. He’s backed brands like Papa John’s and Google, and built an empire with more than 50 business ventures over the years — but none of that, he says, matters more than the values his parents instilled.
Harris asked about his entrepreneurial drive. “That came from my dad,” Shaq said. “He was great at telling me how great I was not.” His father hammered home one warning: don’t end up like the 67% of pro athletes who are broke within five years of retirement. “That wasn’t going to be me.”
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His mom and dad also shaped his character — and his approach to giving. His “Shaq-a-Clause” initiative, which gives away toys to thousands of children every Christmas, is just one of the ways he gives back. “Everything I’ve done that’s been charitable, that’s my mother and father.”
But the viral moment came when Shaq explained what success actually feels like now: “If I can get a text from my mother that says ‘Good job, baby,’ that’s better than receiving a text that says, ‘Oh, you have gained $15 million interest off a company you bought.’ Those texts mean nothing.”
