From: peppler@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Randy Peppler)
Subject: Re: Dale Brown vs Father Of The Bride
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 14:16:37 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.192025.8822@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> gidi@Hilbert.Stanford.EDU (Gidi Avrahami) writes:
>
>Is anybody following the story of Shaquille's dad calling Dale Brown
>``an untruthful man,'' and later apologizing?  Apparently Dale and Dad
>have had different opinions on when to announce the Shaq's move to the
>NBA, and whether or not Shaq has a contract with L.A. Gear, etc.
>
>Tune in tomorrow...

	Yes it is, and here's something on it which is sort of funny, I
	think:

	NEW ORLEANS (UPI) -- Shaquille O'Neal's father criticized LSU coach
Dale Brown Wednesday for saying that his son has been offered a $10
million contract to endorse a brand of athletic shoes.
	Sgt. Phillip Harrison, who serves in the U.S. Army in San Antonio,
Texas, told the New Orleans Times Picayune that Brown ``is not a
truthful man'' because ``we have no contract and no offer. We haven't
even talked to anybody about shoes.''
	Brown's assertion that L.A. Gear shoes had offered a four-year
contract to O'Neal in return for his endorsement of the company's
footwear was published in a San Antonio newspaper.
	``I'm kind of disappointed, because I thought he (Brown) was the kind
of person who wouldn't comment when he didn't have the facts,'' O'Neal
said. ``But I'm not at LSU anymore. I'm looking forward. I'm not looking
backward.''
	The 7-foot-1, two-year All-America center announced last Friday he
would skip his senior year of eligibility at LSU in order to play
professional basketball.
	O'Neal, his father and Brown were in Los Angeles Wednesday to attend
a banquet. O'Neal was among finalists for the John Wooden Award,
annually presented to the nation's outstanding basketball player. The
award went to Duke's Christian Laettner.
	Brown was unavailable for immediate comment about the sergeant's
remarks, although Harrison confirmed that agent Leonard Armato of Los
Angles, who has links with L.A. Gear, will be O'Neal's agent.
	Harrison also criticized Brown's failure to keep quiet about the
disclosure that O'Neal would move this year into the National Basketball
Association.
	``When Coach Brown came to my house on Sunday, we asked him not to
reveal this information on Shaquille to anybody,'' Harrison said. ``We
wanted to do this thing on Sunday between (Final Four) games on CBS.''
	It was necessary for the family to change its plans and prematurely
announce O'Neal's departure from LSU at the Friday news conference in
San Antonio, Harrison said.
	According to Harrison, Brown promised not to tell anyone about
O'Neal's decision, but later told assistant coach Craig Carse, then met
with team members about O'Neal's plans, which quickly leaked to sports
reporters.
	``And he said he wasn't even going to tell his wife,'' Harrison said.
``He lied to me. Why did he lie to me? I never lied to him about
anything. This is a bad situation. I'm not a vindictive person, but this
is totally out of line.''
	O'Neal was UPI's College Player of the Year in 1990-91.
-- 
-------------------------------
| Randy Peppler               |
| Illinois State Water Survey |
| peppler@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu    |