THE REAL DEAL
Father of NBA's Shaquile O'Neal reveals all
Katie Barry
Issue date: 3/6/07 Section: News
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Media Credit: shaq
Weekday mornings at 8:30 a.m., Joseph Toney punches in on the time clock at his job at Goodwill Home and Mission on James Street where he hops into his bread truck for the day's deliveries.
Cakes, pastries and breads are picked up from local businesses, and delivered daily to shelters, churches, and mission homes. By the looks of him, you'd think he was in his early 40's. He's tall, wide-eyed, and doesn't have a wrinkle in sight. But he's 61-years-old and says he's "blessed with good genes." Typically, he's done at 4:30 p.m., punches out and heads home to fool around with computers, spend time with family, or watch college sports.
Few people outside of his job know who Toney is. Fewer know, either, that he is the biological father of NBA giant Shaquille O'Neal.
But blood is really all that connects the two seeing as Shaq, a Newark native, wants nothing to do with him.
"I don't know what he heard, but it's not all true," Toney said. "He's being brainwashed. Because he has money, more people listen to him. I don't necessarily blame him for thinking what he does. If I saw a story of a poor man reaching out to his millionaire estranged son, I'd think the same. It's not hard to believe that. But it's not true.
"He's got a good public relations team. I don't want any of his money. It's the real deal so help me God. I just want him to know me and his brothers. I have two sons, Joseph Mitchell Owens and Emmanuel Toney, and Shaq has never met them. If I was the worst father in the world, that shouldn't stop him from seeing his blood relatives. But I sent letters to him, and got back bogus letters."
Back in 1969, Toney was offered a full-scholarship at Seton Hall, where he played for three years. He soon got caught up in the high life, chasing girls and bad behaviors as the "big-man-on-campus," rather than the dreams he had ever since he was a little boy growing up in Newark.
In high school basketball, Toney played against the man who would later raise his son; the man that sits sideline at most games and cheers Shaq on. His name is Phil Harrison, and he met O'Neal's mother Lucille shortly after Toney was sent to a Kentucky prison for fraudulent checks, embezzlement, and drug possession.
"Lucille and I were doing the same thing. I did coke with her. Whatever money we made off the checks, it was our money. But when the authorities came, I didn't want our six-month old baby to be put in a foster home, so I took all the hits. The press plays games. I didn't run away or desert her. I had to serve my time." When he was released after eight and half years behind bars, he did not recognize the world he once lived in. He didn't even know his girlfriend and mother of his child had married Harrison and moved away, and not to the next town over either. Harrison was assigned to military duty in Germany, where Shaq would come to youth and hone his basketball skills.
"If I was in his life when I was going through my troubles, he probably would have turned out poorly, and I wouldn't have wanted that."
It was at a park in Germany on the army base that Louisiana State University head coach Darryl Brown spotted O'Neal shooting hoops and offered him a scholarship to play in the states. He signed a national intent to play for LSU, and the rest is basketball history. Leaving college early for the big-time, O'Neal entered the NBA draft and was the No. 1 pick.
"I remember sitting with friends and watching the McDonalds High School All-Star game, and hearing my son's name…the name I gave him, even down to the spelling. I went 'Oh my gosh' and called Brown, but I didn't want to cause any trouble."
Toney never played his senior year at Seton Hall, the pivotal year when Toney admits "it all came tumbling down." When asked what he would do differently if he could go back to being a junior at Seton Hall, Toney said without a second's hesitation "I would have never left sports. They were my everything. When I didn't have basketball, I didn't know what to do with myself. And I came undone."
He's told his story to Ricki Lake, the Daily News, a news magazine television show A Current Affair, and even the National Enquirer. When asked how much money he accepted, he bellowed, "Not a penny! That's not what I wanted."
after our grandmother passed . we decided to let the truth be known shaq's real dad wasnt a deadbeat he used that to sell records and make him seem to have a harder edge. wow. ........ so as the earth rotaes around the sun and Weekday mornings at 8:30 a.m., Joseph Toney punches in on the time clock at his job at Goodwill Home and Mission on James Street where he hops into his bread truck for the day's deliveries. Cakes, pastries and breads are picked up from local businesses, and delivered daily to shelters, churches, and mission homes. meanwhile his son shaquille, aka SHAQ
Known more for his backboard-shattering power than his poetry as a basketball player, Shaquille O'Neal muscled his way onto the hip-hop charts last year with his debut platinum album, Shaq Diesel. Now the Orlando Magic's superstar center and marketing colossus may be about to shatter expectations again by showing that even someone as huge as he is can grow in new ways as an artist. Shaq-Fu: The Return (Jive Records), O'Neal's about-to-be-released second album (oh, there's also a tie-in video game), features a song, reprinted here, that Shaq wrote about his biological father and the real father who raised him, a song that will make even the most ardent Knicks fan recognize the poetry in Shaq's power.
(Intro) Yo yo, I want to dedicate this song to Phillip Arthur Harrison, 'cause he was the one who took me from a boy to a man. 'Cause as far as I'm concerned, he is my father, 'cause my biological didn't bother
(chorus) Took me from a boy to a man, so I always had a father, 'cause my biological didn't bother
Biological father left me in the cold, when a few months old, a father's child was raised in gold, but I guess not You brought me into this world, but you're not my dad Messin' around with them drugs made my moms mad So we left true, with no remorse or pity, took the first bus from Newark to Jersey City Havin' a child alone, now that's pressure, moms got to go to work drop me off by Odyessa, Wilma, Aunt Ivy, whoever, Aunt Thelma, Uncle Roy, we stuck together.....wow
he wished it went that way.. thats why were here first cousins in the struggle we dont want money our uncle never wanted a penny from shaq.
history.
strokamillion 2007 a.d and future.
