You Tube Gold: High School Shaq

See an amazing talent before he erupted on the national scene.

Shaquille O’ Neal hit college basketball like a bomb. In his most memorable game for LSU, he played against Lute Olsen’s Skyline front court. Arizona started three seven footers and O’ Neal dominated them effortlessly.

By then he was the most anticipated draft pick in years. A few years earlier though, he was an immensely promising high school prospect. Still, no one knew what he was going to become.

In this news story from his high school years, O’ Neil is clearly a teenager. He’s only skinny compared to the massive player he became but it is still strange to see a much more lithe Shaq.

You could see the outlines of greatness though and back then, he could still run (his massive weight made it much more difficult for O’Neal to run effectively in the NBA).

And confidence oozes off of him even though he’s vastly more innocent here.

You also hear about the sweeter sides of his personalty from his coaches and principal. They laud his good nature and his desire to help people, which he cultivated later in life, often intervening to pay for funerals or to buy bicycles for children at stores.

It’s a nice look back a player who, while Hall of Fame great, still let being overweight cut his potential to less than it should have been.