"I Never Told Him Thank You Enough" | Shaq Salutes Stepfather's Impact on His Career | NBA on TNT

let's talk about Team Shaquille's 75 celebration because you know your speech when you got back to the inside set was one of the highlights, I thought it went viral, five minutes of you just opening your heart. We here, though, now that you're with us and you've had a little more time to reflect on what that moment was like, what it meant to you to see those greats and to be up there with those greats and at the same time. It was a happy moment for them, but not as happy as I would have liked. I don't know how all the other superstars got their start, but my first 10 years in basketball weren't even considered a star.

No way you can't do it like this, what are you doing clumsy? Can't you have been walking? You know it at the same time, so most of that time for me and then most of my

career

period is about fighting and just you know, overcoming. certain obstacles and i have always had good people around me so i just wanted to

thank

as many people as possible but the creator of the shad program sergeant philip arthur harrison

told

me that all these things would happen and even when they didn't I believed. it was because I was listening to everyone else because I was a six nine sophomore I didn't start I couldn't play I couldn't shoot and when you're here like you man you can't you can't shoot it on six nines no because my knees hurt , I was just lazy, I was just lazy, I didn't know what hard work meant, you're still growing, that's why your knees hurt, I don't know, but I thought my knees don't always hurt, I just couldn't do it and I started to get depressed and he wouldn't let me get depressed.

His favorite, his favorite saying, was a man, a soldier and I like it and I like it, I can sit at home. like that, but when he came in and said soldier man, you better stay like this or you'll be forced to rake the leaves and think about what you want to be like and I'll be out there, we'll

never

do them. I'll

never

make it I'll never make it and then I started to change my thought process. I'll go when no one's looking and pick up a rock and bait it oh, maybe I can, then I'll pick up a tennis ball ooh, no one's looking.

Get a volleyball ooh and then I start throwing the ball and now I'm throwing trash but I can't make a basket in the game. I'm not confident yet, so once in the game, true story, I'm killing them by crossing them. up diamond, moving my fingers I got 40 shots at the end of three I got 40. we beat the team I crossed the guy half court I looked back and tried to roll jelly and I missed my father walks on the court calls for a timeout he takes me outside and You know I'm great, my boys, here we go again, Dad acting crazy because he was the type that wanted perfection, like I got 43 points and missed nine free throws, he's not happy with 43, you should have 52.

You should be 52. Get your ass outside and practice, so anyway he takes me outside and I'm fine because you meet people there and look, he used to do it, he's the disciplinarian that I had, you don't know, another bad thing, he I needed and 'I'm glad he did because that's the reason I'm here today, so he took me outside, I'm fine, look at my spicy lips, he said, man, what the hell are you doing?' You know, man, I'm working on my doctor Jay. my magic, no drink, no magic, be the shack, so now he boom, you can't cry around the sergeant, so now it's the place, you know, I've got that omega side fire rage in me now, now.

I'm opening the game, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going to go into the game and say, "Okay, you want to do this to me." I'm putting cases. I'm in the game now. I tell my kids, yeah, yeah, so I

told

my son he stole. to me so now when they throw it at me I'm so mad at it I'm dunking and when I'm dunking I'm trying to do it I'm just trying to break the edge yeah so that night we go back and watch the tape and while I'm dunking he says: don't look at the dunk look at your people under you and they all do like this eh she said this is where he said this I need you to play with the old vhs tape she ran to the coach I need to postpone the game that's the first time my son does it so we look at the table I'm sitting there man how you hit me in front of everyone I don't want to talk to you he said: look at this, don't look at the dog, look, look at the team, look at the bench, look at the crowd and that's why every time I dunk I put my legs up and I tried to take them down because it's not like I Trying to show power, I want you to show fear, so when you show fear now that I know I have you again, but it was great moment, mom was happy for me, but the guy who actually told me this happened would have been like that.

It's great to go home to him and say hey man here's the jacket

thank

you I love you and he passed away about eight nine ten years ago but I've never said thank you

enough

because he was a little tough like me and it's him . Wasn't he soft like he was like a brother? You don't have to tell me you love me. I know you look like that's who he is and that's who I am, family members and kids, and you don't have to tell all that. I love me, I know I'm not that soft