It’s difficult to imagine anyone asking Shaquille O’Neal one particular question today:
“And your name is?”
Seriously?
Shaq has spent more than three decades becoming one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet. He’s an NBA legend, television star, businessman, pitchman, DJ and a man who has probably appeared in enough commercials to qualify as his own television network.
But once upon a time, Dick Vitale didn’t know who he was.
And according to Shaq, that moment changed everything.
O’Neal recently recalled being a teenage basketball prospect with one very specific dream. He wanted to hear legendary broadcaster Dick Vitale say his name.
“Going to my high school, it was always one of my dreams for Dick Vitale to say my name,” Shaq remembered.
Then came his opportunity.
O’Neal attended an All-American game and found himself face-to-face with the famous broadcaster. Young Shaquille politely introduced himself.
“Hey, Mr. Vitale. How are you, sir?”
Then came the response Shaq wasn’t expecting.
“And your name is?”
Ouch.
“He didn’t know my name,” O’Neal recalled. “That messed me up a little bit.”
For a teenager who had imagined this meeting and dreamed about hearing Vitale talk about him, the moment stung.
But instead of sulking about it, Shaq turned the embarrassment into fuel.
“My whole mindset was: ‘Tomorrow, Mr. Vitale and the whole world will know the name Shaquille O’Neal,’” he said.
Then Shaq added the line that makes the whole story:
“That was the day I became Shaq.”
Mission accomplished, Big Fella.
Actually, mission very accomplished.
O’Neal eventually became one of the most dominant centers basketball has ever seen. Across 19 NBA seasons, he scored 28,596 regular-season points, grabbed more than 13,000 rebounds and earned 15 All-Star selections.
Then there were the championships.
Shaq won four NBA titles, including three consecutive championships with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000 through 2002. He was named Finals MVP during all three of those Lakers championship runs and captured the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in 2000.
And somewhere along the way, everybody learned his name.
That’s what makes Shaq’s Dick Vitale story more than just a funny memory from his teenage years.
Most successful people can probably point to a moment when somebody overlooked them, underestimated them or simply didn’t know who they were yet.
Shaq happened to use his moment as motivation.
The teenager who desperately wanted Dick Vitale to say his name eventually became so famous that the world didn’t even need the whole thing.
Shaq was enough.
Today, whether he’s analyzing basketball on television, running businesses, performing as DJ Diesel or popping up in another commercial, there isn’t much chance of someone asking Shaquille O’Neal who he is.
And if Dick Vitale ever calls another one of his highlights?
We’re pretty sure he knows the name now.