Shaquille O’Neal had a phenomenal NBA career and is enjoying tremendous success post-retirement today, and none of this might have happened had it not been for his late stepfather, Philip Arthur Harrison. Harrison was probably the biggest influence on O’Neal’s life, and during an appearance on the #ABtalks podcast, he shared how his stepfather reacted to his mother’s death.
“My father was sort of like me,” O’Neal said, via Casper. “He was a mama’s boy, and I was real close to him when his mother passed away at the funeral because I was like, I know he’s gonna break down. I want be strong for him. He cried 30 seconds and back to business. And I asked him, I said, ‘Hey man, you all right?’ He said, ‘I’m all right. She was sick, I knew she gonna pass away, but I can’t be sad, I gotta take care of my family.’
“And then, when he passed away, all his powers came to me,” O’Neal added. “I am the glue that holds the family together.”
Harrison was quite the hardened individual, as he was a career army sergeant. Even in the face of such personal tragedy, he knew he had to put on a brave face and support his loved ones. Whether Harrison wanted to or not, the way he carried himself that day proved to be a lesson for O’Neal. It was just one of many he passed on.
Harrison became a part of O’Neal’s life because his father, Joe Toney, wasn’t. He was born to Toney and his girlfriend, Lucille O’Neal, on March 6, 1972, in Newark, New Jersey. Toney landed himself in hot water with the law, though, and was sent to federal prison not too long after his son was born.
Lucille would then find love in Harrison, who agreed to raise the child despite it not being his own. He would instil discipline in the boy and do what he thought best to ensure he didn’t go down the wrong path, the way his biological father once did.
O’Neal revealed that Harrison would punish him every time an athlete did something crazy. The last such instance was after Len Bias passed away due to a cocaine overdose in 1986. Harrison told O’Neal he’d kill him if he ever did cocaine, and then put his hands on his stepson. That was extreme, but the Hall of Famer does not resent him for those actions.
It wasn’t always with his fists that Harrison taught O’Neal lessons. He recounted once telling his stepfather that he was feeling pressure while on the court. Harrison responded by showing O’Neal a homeless family to teach him what pressure actually looks like. That changed his perspective.
Harrison also told O’Neal that if he ever made it big, he had to help those in need. The 54-year-old sure does that on a regular basis.
Such was O’Neal’s love for Harrison that he hired him to work for him for $500,000 a year after learning he earned $60,000 a year in the army. He also taught him how to do business.
Harrison wasn’t going to be around forever for O’Neal, of course. He would pass away on Sept. 10, 2013, at the age of 66, after almost a decade-long battle with health issues such as diabetes and hypertension. O’Neal had promised Harrison he’d take care of the family and has done just that.
