Dale Brown, the LSU coach who spotted a 13-year-old Shaquille O'Neal in Germany, dies at 90
Brown, who died Oct. 23, built a friendship with O'Neal that began at a military base clinic in 1984 and lasted more than four decades.
By Mei Lin ·
Dale Brown, the longtime LSU basketball coach who helped launch the career of Shaquille O'Neal, died Friday, Oct. 23, at the age of 90. His legacy includes helping develop one of the most recognizable players in sports history.
The two first met in 1984, when Brown was running a basketball clinic at a military base in West Germany. O'Neal, then 13 and living on the base, was already 6 feet, 9 inches tall. He approached Brown to ask for advice on improving his game.
Brown at first took the teenager for a soldier and asked how long he had been in the Army. When O'Neal told him he was 13, Brown saw the potential in him.
O'Neal recalled in a 2015 interview with Esquire that he had little confidence in his basketball ability at the time. He said Brown began mailing him letters and basketball exercises after that first encounter. The two kept up their correspondence as O'Neal grew into one of the country's top high school prospects. Brown eventually recruited him to LSU, where he played from 1989 to 1992.
At LSU, O'Neal was a two-time consensus All-American and a two-time SEC Player of the Year. He was then the No. 1 overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. Their bond continued after he left Baton Rouge. In a 1999 letter congratulating Brown on his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, later published by LSU Athletics, O'Neal wrote: "You are the only college coach I ever had, and the only one I ever wanted."
Brown stayed part of O'Neal's life as his pro career took off, and he was there to celebrate when O'Neal won his first NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000. That same year, O'Neal returned to LSU to finish his college degree, keeping a promise he had made to his family and to Brown when he left school in 1992. In the Esquire interview, O'Neal described Brown as a "father figure, leader, and a motivator" away from the court.
In 2015, ESPN released "Shaq & Dale," an SEC Storied documentary about the pair. Directed by Hannah Storm and narrated by Louisiana native Tim McGraw, the film followed O'Neal back to LSU to visit his former coach. It traced the relationship from Germany through O'Neal's college years, his NBA success and his life after basketball. According to LSU, the two stayed in regular contact through letters and emails for decades.
Just days before Brown's death, O'Neal helped mark another milestone for his old coach. On Oct. 21, LSU announced that Brown had been chosen as the 2027 recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award. O'Neal recorded a video message congratulating Brown and reflecting on what his former coach had meant to his life and career. Brown had been scheduled to receive the award in April 2027.
Source: FOX 8 WVUE (fox8live)
