Shaquille O’Neal’s Shaq-a-Clause: 3 Intriguing Facts About NBA Legend’s 22-Year-Long Christmas Tradition

Santa Claus is no longer a big man in a red suit and white beard. He’s a 7’1″ giant with huge DIESEL necklaces and a red hat who goes by Shaq-a-Claus. Sometimes he’s appearing between NBA games as Shaquille O’Neal. For over two decades, this big man has surprised kids and families during the Christmas season with gifts. The whole event is dubbed the ‘Shaq-a-Claus.’

Shaq-a-Claus is in its 22nd incarnation, getting bigger and better every holiday season thanks to more who want to share in O’Neal’s wonderful act. Since the big-hearted Big Aristotle is all about giving, it’s a good time to celebrate the season of Shaq-a-Claus in three steps.

1. Mama Diesel accidentally started Shaq-a-Claus

In 1992, Lucille O’Neal was at a Boys and Girls Club event. Given her son was the most talked about NBA rookie, she drew quite the crowd. The little kids expressed their Christmas wish-list to her. Shaquille O’Neal gives his mother a generous allowance but over thousand kids was out of her means. Instead, she called her son for help.

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“Baby, I need to borrow some money,” Shaq recalled about his mother’s phone call to him. He was so worried by her need, he naturally asked why she needed the money. When he found out that she wanted to treat 2000 kids to presents, he said, “You can’t do that. I’ll take care of it.” 

Shaq gathered his entourage, a U-Haul, and went to Toys R Us. He set up an entire event in record time that even surprised his mother along with making the young fans extremely happy. That manifested into Shaq-a-Claus, the charity event that has continued for 22 years.

2. Shaquille O’Neal gets big players

Like many of his philanthropic ventures, Shaq-a-Claus is entirely Shaquille O’Neal. He used to collect gifts from Toys R Us and distribute them on his own dime. His big purchases didn’t go unnoticed.

“Toys R Us called me one day like, ‘Bro, you’ve been spending all this money to Toys R Us, let us help you.’ And I was like okay cool. So I would continue to spend money and then Toys R Us came along and we made it bigger,” the 4x champion revealed on The Rich Eisen Show.

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Shaq-a-Claus surprised the kids at Wesley Lakes Elementary School in Atlanta on December 14 with a Winter Wonderland. 750 kids were treated to presents, clothes, haircuts, pizza, a live DJ event, carnival games and Shaq himself. He had the support of major brands like Great Clips, Nautica, Tonka Toys, Eddie Bauer and more. Papa John’s served the pizzas. O’Neal never misses a beat to thank his sponsors for making more kids happier on Christmas.

3. Shaq-a-Claus got a unique spin

Media-savvy Shaquille O’Neal hosted Storytime with Shaq on NBA TV in 2019. He was at Wesley Lakes back then too and the Shaq-a-Claus event featured prominently on his show along with his TNT colleague, Ro Parrish.

On the same show he narrated his admirable father inspired him when he gifted him a signed Dr. J basketball. O’Neal, who doesn’t accept Christmas gifts, counts that as his most memorable gift. He since found joy in making kids happy during the holidays through giving.

The highlight though was the intense remote control car race between Shaq and his young fans. Santa needs to step up his game.