Shaquille O'Neal hopes to carry on the legacy of late boxing great Muhammad Ali, the retired four-time NBA champion said, as he uses his extraordinary fame to advance his philanthropic work.
O'Neal will be honoured on Saturday at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville for his work supporting underserved youth, a cause that reflects the ideals that "The Greatest" championed, Ali's widow Lonnie Ali said.
"We don't give this out lightly," Ali told Reuters in a joint interview with O'Neal.
"We give it to people who emulate Muhammad's example, who bring that Ali spirit and carry that torch forward to the next generation."
She said she sees a lot of her husband, a global icon known as much for his political activism as his boxing brilliance, in Hall of Famer O'Neal.
"He has a compassionate and kind heart like Muhammad had," she said.
O'Neal, 52, credits the Boys & Girls Club of America as being a safe haven for him when he was growing up in a rough part of Newark, New Jersey.
O'Neal's foundation has long been a high-profile supporter of the philanthropic organisation as part of his mission to create pathways to success for young people.
Muhammad and Lonnie first got to know O'Neal in the early 1990s when he was about to be drafted into the NBA, beginning what would become an enduring friendship.
"I can remember my father telling me one day, if you listen to me, you can be as big as Muhammad Ali," O'Neal said.
"I didn't believe it. But I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Ali and when he recognised me in a restaurant, I almost cried. I was like, oh my god, Muhammad Ali knows who I am.
"I don't consider myself in the same stratosphere as Ali but to have had the opportunity to see him, try to mimic him and to be close to his family.
"Everything I've tried to do I've patterned after the great Muhammad Ali."
O'Neal said another inspiration to perform good deeds comes from his mother, who he plans to bring as his date to Saturday's awards dinner.
"When I do things, I don't do them for recognition, I do them because I've seen other greats like Muhammad Ali do it," he said.
"And I'm a mama's boy, and she always told me to be kind and compassionate and help those in need."
Since retiring from the NBA in 2011, the larger-than-life profile of "Shaq" has only grown.
He is an analyst for TNT's beloved Inside the NBA and is involved in myriad business ventures, charitable causes and artistic endeavours.
Saturday's annual awards dinner also serves as a fundraiser for the centre, whose mission is to "foster respect, inspire generations of changemakers, and advance social justice".
It welcomes over 100,000 visitors annually and will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.
"The first 20 years was getting established and putting Muhammad's legacy down," Lonnie Ali said.
"We really wanted the centre to be built and grounded while Muhammad was still with us," she said of her husband, who she was married to for three decades before he passed away in 2016.
"The next 20 years will embody even more of Muhammad's legacy, talking about his greatness and passing that greatness on."
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