Shaq Uncut: My Story (37 page)

It is a shame that George Mikan isn’t remembered the same way as some of the other more recent stars. He was the first dominant big man. Let’s get real: he has a
drill
named after him. When he passed away, I helped pay for his funeral. I was honored to
help out.

When I look back on nineteen years in the game, I’m grateful for the opportunities I had. I played with some of the best of all time: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Grant Hill, Alonzo Mourning, Penny Hardaway. That’s a helluva list.

But teammates come and go. It’s the other people in your life who stay with
you no matter how many points you score. People like Danny Garcia, my massage guy. People like Joe Cavallero, my high school teammate. People like Poonie, my “second mother” at LSU.

I met Poonie when I used to go with my teammate Harold Boudreaux to a little town in Louisiana called Cecilia. Whenever we had time off, all the other guys were going to New Orleans to raise hell, but me and Harold
would go to his little hometown. There was a girl named Catice that I had my eye on, so we’d go down there and wind up at Poonie’s house. Her real name is Evelyn Huval. She has a son, Dane, and he played high school ball with Harold.

I might have gone down there chasing a girl, but the ones I ended up falling in love with were Poonie and Dane. Poonie was so sweet. She’d wash all my dirty clothes,
and we’d hang out or go to the mall, and then on Sundays I’d sleep all day. I’d do my homework, and she’d make me these little chicken sandwiches, then send me back to LSU.

It was a very simple existence, but that’s what I like. The Shaq you see on television, at the clubs, that’s a different person than Shaquille,
who was never happier than when he was at Poonie’s house, hanging with Dane and
the fine people of Cecilia.

When I started playing pro ball and got some extra money, I bought Poonie a new house. I’ve been going to visit her in the summers for the past twenty years.

That’s why I don’t really care if I ever have another conversation with Kobe or DWade. It’s not a personal thing. We played together, won championships, we’re in the history books, it’s all cool. But are you
asking me whether I’d rather hang with Kobe and DWade or Poonie? It’s not even close, brother.

I won’t lie to you. My relationships with women haven’t always been the best. It started all the way back at LSU, when I fell in love with a girl who was dogging me behind my back. She was with me, but when I wasn’t looking she was with a few other fellas, too. I was so blinded by love I never saw it
coming. Looking back, I think she was more in love with the glamour of my life than just caring about me.

Sometimes you see that coming, sometimes you don’t. I look at it as simplifying things. I’m a car. Everybody likes me. I look good, I’m a nice car. Now that you’ve bought me, I’ve got to get you to like me for just being me. Not because I have power doors or a leather interior.

I realize
I get to meet a lot of people because I’m Shaq. A lot of doors open that way. But once you say hello, shake my hand, I’ve got to make you like me for me. I learned that at an early age.

What I never learned was how to have courting skills. I never had to. Regular guys learn how to date, talk to the parents. Not me. I never really mastered that. Now all of a sudden I get to LSU, and
bam!
I’ve
got everyone’s attention with my silliness.

You know as well as I do relationships are about maintaining. For ten years I never had to take anyone out to dinner. It wasn’t the big stuff, it was the small stuff, and that’s my fault.

I had things to do. I was trying to win, trying to make some money. I admit I wasn’t the best partner. I just didn’t know how. I’m learning now.

I’m lucky to have
met Nicole Alexander. Nikki is fun, she’s outgoing, and she has a wild side. We’re two wild people who truly respect each other, two wild people who have been hurt too many times, and we’re ready to settle down.

At one time my ex-wife Shaunie and I were happy, but I admit it—I was a guy. I was a guy with too many options. Choosing to be with some of those women, well, that’s on me. In my mind,
I never did it disrespectfully, but obviously I shouldn’t have done it all.

With Nikki, I don’t. We’ve been together a year now, and I’m trying hard to keep myself on the straight and narrow. I’d like to think I’ve learned my lesson, and become a better man. Nikki and I have a contract. I talk about all the bad stuff that’s happened to me, and she talks about all the bad stuff that’s happened
to her, and we’ve promised each other it won’t happen to us.

It’s different with Nikki. We do stuff on the fly. One day we rented a tandem bike just for the hell of it. I need that. I used to be all over the place. She was the same way. Now we’re two wildflowers that have finally bloomed in the same garden.

I bought an RV and we’re going to see the world. Maybe we’ll go on a Shaqfari. Maybe
we’ll do a reality show together.

By the time you read this, they will have unveiled a statue of me at LSU. I don’t get excited by very much, but I certainly was honored my school wanted to do that for me. It’s nice they want to have me be part of their permanent history.

My connection to LSU is very strong. I’ve very quietly donated millions of dollars to them over the years. There are so many
people there I care about, from secretaries in the athletic department to some of the janitors who still work there. I still stop by the same restaurants, say hello to the same people, and I love that. It feels like my second home. I guarantee if I ran for sheriff in Baton Rouge, I’d win by a landslide.

I hold a golf tournament at LSU every year. Each time I go back, I make sure I go to a football
game. When I’m sitting there, it takes
me back to that night when they turned out all the lights and shone that spotlight on me. It was my first taste of being a star, and I still get jitters when I think about it.

I’m ready to be done with basketball. I have some regrets, of course. I regret missing all those free throws. I wish I could have found a way to win one more ring.

When I look back
on it, I did things my way. Not everyone agreed with the way I went about it. My critics are welcome to say what they like.

But I’ve got four rings—and a lifetime of memories I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Me at three months, ready to play ball—but the wrong sport!
(Author’s collection)

At five years old, with my mom.
(Author’s collection)

My mom Lucille and me, at three months.
(Author’s collection)

Me as a senior talking to the media at Cole High School in 1989.
(Bob Daemmrich/Getty Images)

My freshman year at LSU, 1989.
(Author’s collection)

On the court at LSU in 1992.
(Getty Images)

LSU graduation in 2000.
(Bill Haber/AP Photo)