Shaquille O’Neal’s Daughter, Amirah, Joins Brother at HBCU Texas Southern
Another Black athlete has made the transition into the world of Historically Black Colleges.
NBA great Shaquille O’Neal’s daughter, Amirah O’Neal, will join her brother Shariff to play basketball at Texas Southern University.
In proper Gen-Z fashion, the 19-year-old made her announcement via Instagram with an electrifying post in her new team’s jersey captioned: “I see the doubt in they faces, they didn’t think I would make it.”
O’Neal was originally playing at her father’s alma mater Louisiana State University.
Standing at 6-foot-1, she is bound to help enhance the play at TSU (5-10 last season).
O’Neal will be playing under Naismith Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. Her father’s former college coach Johnny Jones heads the Tigers’ men’s team.
The youngest of the O’Neals is also being recruited by the same school.
For the past few years, there seems to be a trend of top athletes choosing to play at HBCUs. Just last season, NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders’s son, Shedeur Sanders, chose Jackson State University over football powerhouses University of Alabama and Baylor University.
Last year, five-star recruit Makur Maker committed to Howard University and has already brought in new energy to the team.
While these are great moves, the idea of top athletes going to HBCUs isn’t necessarily new. Hall of Famers such as Willie Lanier, Michael Strahan, Doug Williams and Walter Payton all attended HBCUs before their professional careers.
Strahan, a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, stated on the ABC News “Perspective” podcast, “To go to Texas Southern … it was perfect for me. Knowing the history when you really looked into not just NFL players, but Hall of Fame NFL players, definitely made me realize that if I really wanted to be an NFL player that it could happen.”
Playing for an HBCU is an honor and more athletes are starting to realize that.