Early Life
O'Neal was born in Newark, New Jersey. He remains estranged from his biological father, Joseph Toney of Newark. Toney, who was once an All-State guard in high school who was offered a basketball scholarship to play at Seton Hall, struggled with drug addiction and was, by 1973, imprisoned for drug possession when O'Neal was an infant. Upon his release, Toney did not resume a place in O'Neal's life and instead, agreed to relinquish his parental visitation rights to O'Neal's stepfather, Phillip A. Harrison, a career Army Reserve sergeant, and his mother, Lucille (née O'Neal). O'Neal and Toney have never spoken, and O'Neal has expressed no interest in establishing a relationship. On his 1994 rap album, Shaq Fu: The Return, O'Neal voiced his feelings of disdain for Toney in the song "Biological Didn't Bother", dismissing him with the line "Phil is my father."
O'Neal credits the Boys and Girls Club of America in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, with giving him a safe place to play and keeping him off the streets. "It gave me something to do," he said. "I'd just go there to shoot. I didn't even play on a team." He led his Robert G. Cole High School team, from San Antonio, Texas, to a 68–1 record during his two years there and helped the team win the state championship during his senior year. His 791 rebounds during the 1989 season remains a state record for a player in any classification.
On January 31, 2012, O’Neal was honored as one of the 35 Greatest McDonald's All-Americans.
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