Shaquille O’Neal knows the hardship of finding shoes that fit. Gone are the days where his parents struggled to afford shoes that fit his larger-than-average size. The Reebok head honcho carried forward the kindness of one shoemaker by pioneering his own affordable shoe line and helping kids in need. He’s now expanding it in a big way by collaborating with Broward and Miami-Dade Counties.

Sheriff Gregory Tony announced the ‘Walk a Mile In My Shoes‘ initiative to collect and donate shoes to underprivileged youth in the Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Shaq, who won this city its first championship with the Miami Heat and is also a volunteer officer in the local law enforcement, joined in to take it up a notch.

In the Instagram Reel by Sheriff Tony, Shaq explained his reason for joining the initiative. “One, it’s the right thing to do. Second, I own Reebok and I own my own brand. So if I could donate shoes to kids in need, I’d do that everytime.” 

Shaq is the president of the basketball division of Reebok and one of the largest shareholders of Authentic Brands Group, which acquired it in 2021. He was the face of Reebok’s first signature shoe, Shaq Attaq, when he signed with it as an NBA rookie in 1992. He’d walk away from Reebok to launch an affordable shoe line with Walmart.

O’Neal was instrumental in pushing Authentic to acquire Reebok from Adidas for $2.5 billion. He’s since led its charity wing, donating hundreds of pairs through the Boys and Girls Club.

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Sherrif Tony wrote, “If you find yourself in a position to do more for others – do not hesitate! I can recall how difficult it was for my mother to buy me sneakers as a kid. Now, I get to help take that burden off of my Broward community.” Like the Sheriff, Shaq is no stranger to helping kids who are in his shoes.

Shaquille O’Neal knows bigfoot dilemmas

O’Neal said many times before that he could never fulfill his dream of wearing Air Jordans because they didn’t come in his size and his family couldn’t afford them. When he needed dress shoes in size 19 for a school dance, Atlanta shoemaker, Bruce Teilhaber, gave them to him for free. He said Shaq could repay him when he was a big-time NBA superstar.

When Shaq did hit stardom, he remained Teilhaber’s loyal customer. He even gifted a Georgia teen with size 18 feet 10 pairs of shoes from Teilhaber’s store.

Another teen with size 23 shoes was gifted five pairs of Reebok shoes. They’d be a tad small because they were size 22s specially designed for O’Neal. Reebok, Puma, and other brands gifted him custom shoes after his story went viral. O’Neal advised the same teen to make his parents proud and offered to buy him dress shoes from Teilhaber anytime he wanted.

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