Shaq's Dad Once Showed Him A Homeless Family And Said: I'm Tired Of You Spoiled, Rich Athletes Who Don't Perform And Blame It On Pressure
Shaquille O'Neal is a Hall of Famer and one of the most dominant NBA players in history, but even he had moments early in his career where he struggled to handle the spotlight. One of those moments resulted in a life lesson from his late stepfather that would stay with him forever.
After a rough game against the New York Knicks during his rookie season with the Orlando Magic, O'Neal felt overwhelmed. 'I let the pressure get to me,' he recalled in a 2024 interview. His stepfather, the late Army drill sergeant Phillip Harrison, wasn't having it.
He called his son and told him to come home immediately. 'Be here tomorrow at 0500 a.m.,' Harrison instructed. 'Yes, sir,' Shaq replied.
Don't Miss:
Hasbro, MGM, and Skechers trust this AI marketing firm — Shaq showed up on time the next morning, and they drove in silence. When O'Neal spoke, his stepfather snapped, clearly angry that Shaq had let pressure get to him. As they drove under a bridge, they saw a homeless family sleeping in a tent. They waited in the car, silently, for more than an hour as the family slowly woke up — first the man, then his wife, and finally two young children.
'He said, 'What happened to the game yesterday?' I said, 'Man, I don't know. I let the pressure get to me.'' Harrison then gave it to him straight: 'That's pressure. Pressure is when you don't know when your next meal is coming from.'
O'Neal retold the same story in a recent interview on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,' where he emphasized his stepfather's frustration with athletes who complain. Harrison had said, 'I'm tired of you spoiled, rich athletes making all this money who don't perform at the level that you're supposed to perform to, blaming it on pressure.'
Trending: Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:.
That moment changed O'Neal's perspective. He got out of the car and spoke to the man, who had recently lost his job and was struggling to take care of his wife and two kids. Moved by the encounter, Shaq called a friend and arranged a three-bedroom apartment for the family for $36,000. He also found the man a job through another contact.
Two years later, the man had started his own lawn service business and was cutting Shaq's grass in Orlando, Florida.
'Pressure to me is when you don't know where your next meal is coming from,' O'Neal told Jimmy Fallon. 'So I don't really believe in the word 'pressure' anymore.'Shaq's appreciation for his parents showed up in other major ways. When he signed his first NBA contract in 1992, he didn't just buy them gifts—he put them on the payroll.
'The first thing I did was incorporate 'Shaq,' and then I put my mom on salary and put my dad on salary,' he said in a 2022 interview on 'Drink Champs.'
His stepfather was earning $60,000 in the Army. Shaq asked him, 'How much you make in the Army?' When Harrison said the number, Shaq replied, 'Now you making half a million a year.' Harrison cried.
Shaq asked his mom what she wanted to make and ended up paying her $750,000 annually.
Read Next: The average American couple has saved this much money for retirement —?UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets.
Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga?
APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article Shaq's Dad Once Showed Him A Homeless Family And Said: I'm Tired Of You Spoiled, Rich Athletes Who Don't Perform And Blame It On Pressure originally appeared on Benzinga.com
© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
22 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mr. Clutch: Tyrese Haliburton keeps delivering in the ultimate moments for the Pacers
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — You are Tyrese Haliburton. You went to the Eastern Conference finals last year and got swept. You went to the Olympics last summer and didn't play much. You came into this season with high expectations and your Indiana Pacers got off to a 10-15 start. And on top of that, some of your NBA peers evidently think you are overrated. You got angry. 'I think as a group, we take everything personal,' Haliburton said. 'It's not just me. It's everybody. I feel like that's the DNA of this group and that's not just me.' The anger fueled focus, the focus became confidence, and the confidence delivered a 1-0 series lead in the NBA Finals. Haliburton's penchant for last-second heroics — one of the stories of these playoffs — showed up again Thursday night, his jumper with 0.3 seconds left going into finals lore and giving the Pacers a 111-110 win over the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers led for 0.0001% of that game. It was enough. 'When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball,' Pacers teammate Myles Turner said. 'He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn't shy away from the moment and it's very important this time of the year to have a go-to guy. He just keeps finding a way and we keep putting the ball in the right positions and the rest is history.' Haliburton is 4 for 4 in the final 2 seconds of fourth quarters and overtimes in these playoffs, all of those shots either giving the Pacers a win or sending a game into OT before they won it there. The rest of the NBA, in those situations this spring: 4 for 26, combined. If Haliburton takes one of those beat-the-clock shots in the first three quarters of games in these playoffs, he's a mere mortal, just 1 for 7 in those situations. But with the game on the line, he's perfect. 'You don't want to live and die with the best player on the other team taking a game winner with a couple seconds left,' Thunder guard Alex Caruso said. No, especially when that best player on the other team is Haliburton. Just ask Milwaukee. Or Cleveland. Or New York. They could have all told Oklahoma City who was going to take the big shot and what was probably going to happen. Against the Bucks on April 29, it was a layup with 1.4 seconds left that capped a rally from seven points down in the final 34.6 seconds of overtime. Final score: Pacers 119, Bucks 118, and that series ended there. In Cleveland on May 6, it was a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left for a 120-119 win — capping a rally from seven points down in the final 48 seconds. At Madison Square Garden against the Knicks on May 21, a game the Pacers trailed 121-112 with 51.1 seconds left, he hit a jumper with no time left to force OT and Indiana would win again. All those plays came with a little something extra. His father, John Haliburton, got a little too exuberant with Giannis Antetokounmpo after the Bucks game and wasn't allowed to come to the next few games; the ban has since been lifted. Haliburton did a certain dance that the NBA doesn't like much after the shot against the Cavs. He made a choke signal, a la what Pacers legend Reggie Miller did against New York a generation earlier, after hitting the shot against the Knicks. But on Thursday, all business. These finals are a long way from over, and he knows it. Game 2 is Sunday night in Oklahoma City. 'Again, another big comeback but there's a lot more work to do,' Haliburton said. 'That's just one game. And this is the best team in the NBA, and they don't lose often. So, we expect them to respond. We've got to be prepared for that. We got a couple days to watch film, see where we can get better.' Haliburton is in his first year of a supermax contract that will pay him about $245 million along the way. He has the Olympic gold medal from last summer and surely will be a serious candidate to play for USA Basketball again at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. He's now a two-time All-NBA selection. And he's officially a certified postseason, late-game hero. Three more wins, and he'll be an NBA champion as well. The anger is gone. Haliburton was all smiles after Game 1, for obvious reasons. 'Ultimate, ultimate confidence in himself,' Turner said. 'Some players will say they have it but there's other players that show it, and he's going to let you know about it, too. That's one of the things I respect about him. He's a baller and a hooper and really just a gamer.' And in his NBA Finals debut, Haliburton reminded the world that's the case. 'This group never gives up," Haliburton said. 'We never believe that the game is over until it hits zero, and that's just the God's honest truth. That's just the confidence that we have as a group, and I think that's a big reason why this is going on.' ___
Fox Sports
28 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
Mr. Clutch: Tyrese Haliburton keeps delivering in the ultimate moments for the Pacers
Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — You are Tyrese Haliburton. You went to the Eastern Conference finals last year and got swept. You went to the Olympics last summer and didn't play much. You came into this season with high expectations and your Indiana Pacers got off to a 10-15 start. And on top of that, some of your NBA peers evidently think you are overrated. You got angry. 'I think as a group, we take everything personal,' Haliburton said. 'It's not just me. It's everybody. I feel like that's the DNA of this group and that's not just me.' The anger fueled focus, the focus became confidence, and the confidence delivered a 1-0 series lead in the NBA Finals. Haliburton's penchant for last-second heroics — one of the stories of these playoffs — showed up again Thursday night, his jumper with 0.3 seconds left going into finals lore and giving the Pacers a 111-110 win over the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers led for 0.0001% of that game. It was enough. 'When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball,' Pacers teammate Myles Turner said. 'He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn't shy away from the moment and it's very important this time of the year to have a go-to guy. He just keeps finding a way and we keep putting the ball in the right positions and the rest is history.' Haliburton is 4 for 4 in the final 2 seconds of fourth quarters and overtimes in these playoffs, all of those shots either giving the Pacers a win or sending a game into OT before they won it there. The rest of the NBA, in those situations this spring: 4 for 26, combined. If Haliburton takes one of those beat-the-clock shots in the first three quarters of games in these playoffs, he's a mere mortal, just 1 for 7 in those situations. But with the game on the line, he's perfect. 'You don't want to live and die with the best player on the other team taking a game winner with a couple seconds left,' Thunder guard Alex Caruso said. No, especially when that best player on the other team is Haliburton. Just ask Milwaukee. Or Cleveland. Or New York. They could have all told Oklahoma City who was going to take the big shot and what was probably going to happen. Against the Bucks on April 29, it was a layup with 1.4 seconds left that capped a rally from seven points down in the final 34.6 seconds of overtime. Final score: Pacers 119, Bucks 118, and that series ended there. In Cleveland on May 6, it was a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left for a 120-119 win — capping a rally from seven points down in the final 48 seconds. At Madison Square Garden against the Knicks on May 21, a game the Pacers trailed 121-112 with 51.1 seconds left, he hit a jumper with no time left to force OT and Indiana would win again. All those plays came with a little something extra. His father, John Haliburton, got a little too exuberant with Giannis Antetokounmpo after the Bucks game and wasn't allowed to come to the next few games; the ban has since been lifted. Haliburton did a certain dance that the NBA doesn't like much after the shot against the Cavs. He made a choke signal, a la what Pacers legend Reggie Miller did against New York a generation earlier, after hitting the shot against the Knicks. But on Thursday, all business. These finals are a long way from over, and he knows it. Game 2 is Sunday night in Oklahoma City. 'Again, another big comeback but there's a lot more work to do,' Haliburton said. 'That's just one game. And this is the best team in the NBA, and they don't lose often. So, we expect them to respond. We've got to be prepared for that. We got a couple days to watch film, see where we can get better.' Haliburton is in his first year of a supermax contract that will pay him about $245 million along the way. He has the Olympic gold medal from last summer and surely will be a serious candidate to play for USA Basketball again at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. He's now a two-time All-NBA selection. And he's officially a certified postseason, late-game hero. Three more wins, and he'll be an NBA champion as well. The anger is gone. Haliburton was all smiles after Game 1, for obvious reasons. 'Ultimate, ultimate confidence in himself,' Turner said. 'Some players will say they have it but there's other players that show it, and he's going to let you know about it, too. That's one of the things I respect about him. He's a baller and a hooper and really just a gamer.' And in his NBA Finals debut, Haliburton reminded the world that's the case. 'This group never gives up," Haliburton said. 'We never believe that the game is over until it hits zero, and that's just the God's honest truth. That's just the confidence that we have as a group, and I think that's a big reason why this is going on.' ___ AP NBA: recommended
New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
Knicks' firing of Tom Thibodeau raises a question: What do we want from NBA coaches?
The New York City Democratic mayoral candidates have entered the Tom Thibodeau discourse. During Wednesday's debate, each candidate had to pick a side on the thumbs up/thumbs down binary about the New York Knicks' decision to fire Thibodeau following their Eastern Conference finals defeat to the Indiana Pacers. Seven candidates did not agree with the Knicks' move, while Michael Blake had the backs of James Dolan and Leon Rose. 'Our goal is to win the finals, not to get to the conference finals,' Blake said. they asked the nyc mayoral candidates what they thought about the thibs firing greatest city in the world — claire de lune (@ClaireMPLS) June 5, 2025 Regardless, the majority opinion on the stage seems to be the majority opinion in the greater sports world — or at least the initial majority opinion. Thibodeau just got the Knicks to the precipice of the NBA Finals and they were one of the last four teams standing for the first time in 25 years. These were not the lovey-dovey 'Nova Knicks' of a year ago, thanks, in part, to the franchise-altering Karl-Anthony Towns trade that went down as training camp started. But the Knicks navigated it more successfully than not: 51 wins, the Eastern Conference's third seed, two playoff series wins, including one over the defending champions (a series they had control of before Jayson Tatum's injury) and a coin-flip conference final that might have gone the other way had the Knicks not blown Game 1 in historic fashion. GO DEEPER The Knicks' season comes to an end, and Game 1 will haunt them for a while On merit, Thibodeau should still be there. And what are sports if not an area of society in which we look for merit to win out in the end? There are enough aspects of life that aren't determined by the concept of what's deserved; sports are supposed to run counter to that. It is a deeply held value of many sports fans. 'When I first saw it,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said about Thibodeau's firing on Wednesday, 'I thought it was one of those fake AI things.' Except, merit can have different meanings. We've heard that sports are a results-oriented business long enough that we usually believe it, but results are at once more complicated and simpler than ever before. Evidence for the latter: Blake's comment — or, RINGZ culture, as some derisively put it. If winning a title is all that matters, and you believe you are a title contender, then the NBA becomes a zero-sum game in which only one team can be happy. If a team doesn't win when it thinks it should, there is a hunt for reasoning. And if Thibodeau did not bring together a divided locker room, as was reported in The Athletic, did not maximize the skills of his team, as was evidenced by the team's offensive struggles throughout the playoffs, and failed to extend his rotation until it was too late, why should he be back? Advertisement Another value sports fans hold dear: the importance of organizational alignment, from ownership to management to the coaching staff to players (and beyond). If management doesn't believe in the coaches, or the players don't believe in management, everything disintegrates. Right? Well, if you believe that is a prerequisite for winning a title, let me point you to a little-known documentary called 'The Last Dance.' Also, let's go back to the surprise firings (in timing, if not in eventuality) of Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth from the last week of the regular season. More so than in the Knicks situation, there was a clear conflict between those two values. Malone coached the Nuggets to their first championship just two seasons ago. To fire him so soon after a title (Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer have also lost their jobs shortly after winning championships in the last four years) seemed like an abandonment of merit. Yet, there was an equal case to make that the Nuggets' decision was overdue. Malone and Booth had been feuding long before their dismissals, causing fractures within the Nuggets. Despite Malone guiding the Nuggets to seasons of 57 and 50 wins (with David Adelman doing relief work in the latter year), ownership still held him accountable for not doing more to guarantee organizational harmony. At least in Malone's case, he had company in the blame department. The rub, of course, is that this had been a lingering issue, not a sudden one. Management and the coaching staff had disagreements leading up to the championship, but the Nuggets were able to overcome them. Everyone looks happy during a parade, but that doesn't mean there aren't simmering, perhaps unfixable, issues. (The issues worsened in the year following the title.) Advertisement Imagine if the Nuggets had fired Malone and/or Booth after last season, in which they lost Game 7 of the second round at home. Or if the Knicks had followed the lead of the Nuggets and Grizzlies by firing their long-time coach before the playoffs arrived. It's not like they were a happy team as the season played out, nor were they significantly outperforming expectations. If you're looking for a reason to change, you can always create one. There is a straightforward reason for all these firings: competitive windows are closing faster than before. Player contracts are shorter, restraints on team-building in the new CBA are tighter and win-or-else angst is at an all-time high. There is less time to find the perfect recipe than there used to be. If you think you have a roster that can win, you better make sure you have the right leadership in place. The question isn't whether these firings are right or wrong, but why it feels like they can be both right and wrong simultaneously. It's not that 'deserve's got nothing to do with it,' to borrow a phrase from'Unforgiven.' It's that it has never been harder to determine what 'deserve' means when it comes to leading an NBA team.
