Jermaine O’Neal was one of the best two-way players in the NBA during the early 2000s, when he was with the Indiana Pacers. Despite his success in the league, O’Neal had a troubled upbringing.
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O’Neal came from a broken family. His father left when he was born; a key detail made this even more painful.
O’Neal’s father stuck around for two years when his older brother Clifford was born. This confused O’Neal, making him feel unworthy of his father’s time.
Jermaine O’Neal opens up about his father
O’Neal recently gave an interview where he dived deep into his father.
“When my mother was pregnant with me, he [father] dipped,” O’Neal said. “Crazy story, my last name is made up… Not even his name. I’m one of 33 kids, true story. I met 17 of them when he died. So, I met him at 30, died 13 months later. So, I spent my whole life without really knowing him.
“My brother used to always tell me these stories,” O’Neal continued. “My father went to jail for murder, got out… Every year over year now, I’m finding out more and more things about him because I was so upset about him not choosing me. Why not me? You chose my brother. I hear the stories about all the toys.”
O’Neal went on to speak about his mother.
“My mother, she was the force behind everything,” O’Neal said. “You get your a** beat up in the streets, you going to go home and get your a** beat at home. She wanted to set the standard, because we ain’t had nothing else but the standard to live off of.
“So, it was one of those things where my mother became just a rock for me. She taught me a lot, she taught me to value everything.”
O’Neal’s story is truly heartbreaking. To not know he had 32 siblings until later in life couldn’t have been easy to handle.
Still, O’Neal appears to have handled everything well. One point of the story we all can smile about.
