Shaquille O'Neal didn’t speak loudly, but the Hall of Fame NBA center had a fun-loving nature and hilarious sense of humor that could light up a camera as well as anybody.
Shaq gave himself an almost limitless number of nicknames — including "Shaq Fu," "Shaq Diesel," "The Big Aristotle," "The Big Shakespeare and "Superman" — and once said that his inability to make free throws was "God’s way of showing nobody’s perfect."
Like Charles Barkley, O’Neal’s big personality helped him have a successful media career after retiring from basketball, as the duo make up a spectacular 1-2 punch on TNT's "Inside the NBA."
Famous Shaquille O'Neal Quotes
I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi and wear Reebok.
I’m George Bush. I’m the President. As a general, and as a leader of this team, whatever I’ve got to do get my guys going, I’ll do it every time. If I have to be the bad guy sometime, I’ll guess I’ll take that. That’s what a leader and a general and a chief of police does. Everybody is not going to like it, but I don’t care if they like or not. I’m Bush, so if they don’t like it, resign.
The biggest thing that will define my legacy is how I’ve done it, and what I’ve done, and who I am. I’m a weird big guy. Doing rapping, doing movies. Do a lot of stuff. But always do things the right way. Went to the police academy to become a police officer. Get his master’s in criminal justice, stayed out of trouble. Played for three different teams. Changed three different franchises around. This is a guy who they would have secret meetings about to change the rules. So, that’s going to be my legacy: the most dominant player ever.