Shaquille O’Neal hopes to carry on the legacy of late
boxing great Muhammad Ali, the retired four-time NBA champion said, as he uses
his extraordinary fame to advance his philanthropic work.
O’Neal will be honored on Saturday at the Muhammad Ali
Center in Louisville for his work supporting underserved youth, a cause that
reflects the ideals that “The Greatest” championed, Ali’s widow Lonnie Ali
said.
“We don’t give this out lightly,” Ali told Reuters in
a joint interview with O’Neal.
“We give it to people who emulate Muhammad’s example,
who bring that Ali spirit and carry that torch forward to the next generation.”
She said she sees a lot of her husband, a global icon
known as much for his political activism as his boxing brilliance, in Hall of
Famer O’Neal.
“He has a compassionate and kind heart like Muhammad
had,” she said.
O’Neal, 52, credits the Boys & Girls Club of
America as being a safe haven for him when he was growing up in a rough part of
Newark, New Jersey.
O’Neal’s foundation has long been a high-profile
supporter of the philanthropic organization as part of his mission to create
pathways to success for young people.
Muhammad and Lonnie first got to know O’Neal in the
early 1990s when he was about to be drafted into the NBA, beginning what would
become an enduring friendship.
“I can remember my father telling me one day, if you
listen to me, you can be as big as Muhammad Ali,” O’Neal said.
“I didn’t believe it. But I had the opportunity to
meet Mr. Ali and when he recognized me in a restaurant, I almost cried. I was
like, oh my God, Muhammad Ali knows who I am.
“I don’t consider myself in the same stratosphere as
Ali but to have had the opportunity to see him, try to mimic him and to be
close to his family.
“Everything I’ve tried to do I’ve patterned after the
great Muhammad Ali.”
GOOD DEEDS
O’Neal said another inspiration to perform good deeds
comes from his mother, who he plans to bring as his date to Saturday’s awards
dinner.
“When I do things, I don’t do them for recognition, I
do them because I’ve seen other greats like Muhammad Ali do it,” he said.
“And I’m a mama’s boy, and she always told me to be
kind and compassionate and help those in need.”
Since retiring from the NBA in 2011, the
larger-than-life profile of “Shaq” has only grown.
He is an analyst for TNT’s beloved “Inside the NBA”
and is involved in myriad business ventures, charitable causes and artistic
endeavors.
Saturday’s annual awards dinner also serves as a
fundraiser for the center, whose mission is to “foster respect, inspire
generations of changemakers, and advance social justice”.
It welcomes over 100,000 visitors annually and will
celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.
“The first 20 years was getting established and
putting Muhammad’s legacy down,” Lonnie Ali said.
“We really wanted the center to be built and grounded
while Muhammad was still with us,” she said of her husband, who she was married
to for three decades before he passed away in 2016.
“The next 20 years will embody even more of Muhammad’s
legacy, talking about his greatness and passing that greatness on.”
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