Young Shaquille O’Neal’s Reaction When He Heard Bill Russell Wasn’t Allowed to Stay in the Hotel With Rest of the Celtics Squad

As one of the greatest in the game, Shaquille O’Neal is loved by the fans. Even organizations show their respect as the Big Diesel has multiple statues. However, where there is love, hate almost always follows. During his recent podcast, Shaq spoke about how his father got him out of standing up against such hate by giving Bill Russell’s example.

During the Bill Russell era, issues of social justice were prevailing in society. Being a black athlete, Russell made a huge impact off the court. Notably, he stood up for social issues alongside athletes such as Muhammad Ali and even Martin Luther King. And Shaq’s father with his example taught his son how to deal with discrimination.

In the recent episode of his podcast, Shaq spoke about this incident and related it to Kyrie Irving.

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How Shaquille O’Neal learned to deal with hate

While speaking on the Big Podcast with Shaq, The Big Diesel spoke about the discrimination he went through during college. When he complained to his father, he had a strict reply ready. When Shaq realized what 11-time NBA champion, Bill Russell had to go through, his attitude immediately changed. However, he didn’t have any issues with Irving taking the opposite approach.

He said: “I actually complained one time to my father and he sit me down and told me what Bill and Muhammad Ali all the people had to go through. In the end of the day shut your ass up. I don’t want to hear that. It is nothing compared to what these people had to go through.”

“I’m like ‘Damn, they had to go through that?’.” Shaq continued saying, “I’m like ‘Hold on, you telling me that man winning all them championships, he couldn’t stay in the same hotel’?’.”

Shaq had to face tons of hate during his days in high school. However, he knew how to feed off it. The Big Diesel went on to dominate the NBA like never before. Scoring over 20k points, O’Neal won 4 championships. As for Russell, he utilized his platform for the betterment of fellow athletes. He was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then President, Barack Obama. He became the pedestal for players such as LeBron James and Stephen Curry who now stand for strong in the fight for social justice.

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Bill Russell served as an inspiration to generations of athletes in the sporting world. Do you think Shaquille O’Neal was a better center than Russell? Let us know your views in the comments below.