NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was raised by his stepfather Phillip A. Harrison who was an Army drill sergeant and his mother Lucille O’Neal. For a very long time, a young Shaq did not realize Harrison was not his biological father. So who is the NBA Hall of Famer’s real dad?

Who is Shaq’s real father Joseph Toney?

Shaquille O’Neal was born to the couple Joseph Toney and Lucille O’Neal. Similar to Shaq, Toney was a basketball star in high school. His abilities on the hardwood earned him a full scholarship at Seton Hall. However, his actions off the court derailed his basketball career.

Toney was reportedly a convicted felon and was held guilty of possession of drugs and forging checks. He was sentenced to six years in prison for his conviction.

Why did he leave Shaquille O’Neal during his childhood?

Joseph Toney and Lucille O’Neal met each other in Newark, New Jersey, and started dating. After the birth of Shaquille O’Neal, Toney abandoned the mother and the infant. Furthermore, his six years in prison did not help. However, Toney reportedly wanted nothing to do with Shaq and did not try to reconnect after his release from prison. Also, he allegedly signed away his parental right as well. Lucille struggled to make ends meet while raising Shaq as a single mother.

Who is the stepfather of Shaquille O’Neal?

Lucille O’Neal then met army man Phillip A. Harrison who was also from Newark, New Jersey. Harrison took in Shaquille O’Neal as one of his own and incurred his parental rights as well. The disciplinarian taught Shaq everything from tying his laces to playing basketball and more. Harrison himself was heading towards a life of crime and turned it around when he left Newark and joined the army. So he was very careful about his children not following the same path.

Whenever Shaq hung around with some dodgy people and did something wrong, Harrison punished him physically. Furthermore, he even slapped the towering center during a high school game in front of the spectators for playing poorly. However, the four-time NBA champion is grateful his father disciplined him.

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According to a report from Andscape, he said, “Without him, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m glad he did it. I did some stupid stuff, stealing cars, hanging with bad people, being around places where drugs were at.” The Los Angeles Lakers legend added that he respects Harrison for raising him properly even though he was not the military sergeant’s biological son. Also, the Hall of Famer still refers to Harrison as his father.

How was Shaq’s relationship with Joseph Toney?

Shaquille O’Neal did not realize Phillip A. Harrison was his stepfather until he was 11 years old. He wondered why his last name was O’Neal while his siblings’ last names were Harrison. This is when Lucille O’Neal let him know about his biological father Joseph Toney. She asked whether Shaq wanted to meet him and he said yes. So Lucille took him to Toney’s place. The 2000 NBA MVP initially thought he wanted to live with Toney. However, he did not like his biological father’s lifestyle and returned home to Harrison.

While some reports claim Toney gave away his parental rights, Toney denied it. However, he did not make much effort to meet his son after serving six years in prison. Also, some reports claim Harrison did not allow Toney to meet Shaq. However, when The Big Diesel entered the league, Toney made various attempts to meet him and gave some interviews as well. But this did not sit well with Shaq who notably took a dig at his biological father in the rap song Biological Don’t Bother released in 1994. However, things have finally calmed down.

How and when Shaq decided to meet his biological father again?

Phillip A. Harrison passed away in 2013 which was one of the toughest moments Shaquille O’Neal had to go through. After his death, Lucille O’Neal encouraged Shaq to meet his biological father again. At this point, Joseph Toney had turned his life around and worked at a Goodwill driving a delivery truck where his deliveries went to homeless shelters. The two then met each other in 2016 at a restaurant in Newark where Shaq reconciled with his father.

Talking about meeting Toney, Shaq said, “He had some problems when he was young, I don’t judge him. As long as we’re both here, we just get to know each other.” He added, “My job is to just love him as much as I can now.”

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The 15-time NBA All-Star was 47 with six children of his own when he finally mended things with his biological father. Shaq also said that he talks with Toney at least once in two weeks and his father has also met his oldest child.