Almost every discussion on the NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal inevitably touches upon his towering physical stature. Standing at 7’1, the former MVP used his colossal frame to the best of his advantage on the court and is widely popular for his backboard-breaking slam dunks. His gigantic physical attributes have also popularized his sneakers. The Big Aristotle wears size 22 shoes. However, Shaq was not using such large shoes in the early years of his career. Therefore, it will be hard to imagine a kid in his early teens requiring a larger shoe than what prime Shaq used to wear in NBA games.

However, that is exactly the case for this Goodrich teen. 14-year-old NFL aspirant Eric Kilburn has already started to garner tremendous attention for his ‘larger-than-Shaq’ sized shoes. Not only have his shoes garnered attention, but they have been uniting people as well.

14-year old teenager’s NFL dream unites community

Standing at 6’10, Eric Kilburn’s foot size is so large that it has outgrown Shaq’s size 22 shoes. To put things into perspective, size 22 shoes are bigger than a water bottle. The 14-year-old dreams to make it to the prestigious NFL one day.

On the back of his colossal frame and skills, Kilburn has been thoroughly outperforming his peers. “I’m able to block four or five guys at a time. If it’s like one on one, I’m easily getting past them and getting to the quarterback,” he told abc 12 news.

Despite having advantage over his peers, there is a drawback to the teenager’s towering physique. Kilburn was unable to find football shoes for his size. A custom made shoe would have cost around $1,500, which was not affordable for the Kilburns. However, the teenager’s NFL dream has brought a whole community together.

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A family friend of the Kilburns started an online fundraiser to get enough money for Eric to buy a pair of shoes. Much to the surprise of the family, several people in the community came together to donate thousands of dollars to support the talented kid’s football dream.

“It’s been stunning, I guess. It’s nothing short of a godsend,”  Eric said. Eric’s mother Rebecca added that the family is planning to deposit the raised amount in a bank that offers a good interest. So the teenager will be able to buy a new pair of shoes whenever he wants and achieve his dream of playing for the Baltimore Ravens or the Cincinnati Bengals.

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An epiphanic shoe story from Shaq’s life

Earlier in his career, Shaquille O’Neal had a big endorsement deal with Reebok. Reebok made iconic basketball shoes like the ‘Shaq Attack’ for the big man. However, one fine day Shaq walked out of the deal with Reebok. As it turns out, a boy’s mother had confronted the Lakers legend and asked him why his shoes were so expensive. Moreover, she added that she can’t buy her kid the shoe he craves because they were so costly.

In a moment of epiphany, Shaq broke ties with the sports brand and started his own brand of basketball sneakers named ‘Dunkman’. The unique selling point of Shaq’s sneakers is their affordability. Years later, Eric’s mother too got caught up in a similar situation, but kind hearts united for Eric.

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