BATON ROUGE, La. -- One day after picking up his degree, Shaquille O'Neal earned a different kind of honor from LSU.
O'Neal, with the team's blessing, skipped the Lakers' game
against the Vancouver Grizzlies Friday night to attend graduation.
He stayed to attend a ceremony Saturday night to retire his No. 33 before the New Orleans-LSU game. He was to rejoin
his team Sunday in Toronto.
LSU unfurled O'Neal's jersey between those of Pete Maravich and Bob Pettit
Saturday night. Pettit and Maravich are the only LSU basketball players
to have their numbers retired previously.
"Academics are academics and athletics are athletics," LSU athletic director Joe Dean
said. "I'm very, very proud of what he did, earning his degree,
but what he did as an athlete earned him this honor long ago."
Getting his degree and having his number retired were in the top
five events in his life, O'Neal said. Being just the third LSU
basketball player to have his number retired was really special.
"It really means something to be part of history," O'Neal
said. "Someday, along about 2015 some kid will ask his father,
'Who, was that guy Maravich?' and his dad will say he was some tall
white guy that played basketball here. Then he'll ask, 'Who was
that guy O'Neal?' And his dad will say, he was some tall black guy
that played basketball here and it will be part of this history."
On Friday, O'Neal donned an extra large cap and gown and received
his bachelor of arts degree from LSU, fulfilling a promise
he made to his coach, his family and himself.
|  | | Shaquille O'Neal now can add LSU graduate to his other accolades. |
O'Neal, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to their first NBA
championship in 12 years last June, will earn $19.286 million this
season and is under contract through the 2005-06 season for more
than $152 million. He makes still more from endorsements, movies
and rap albums.
"It didn't seem right to me to be telling kids to stay in
school when I hadn't got my degree," O'Neal said. "Now I can tell
them -- stay in school."
O'Neal, 28, sat with his fellow students at Friday afternoon's degree
ceremony, but was on the platform with the academics for the
morning commencement service. Provost Daniel M. Fogel introduced
O'Neal as "our tallest graduate."
"From now on, this is 'Love Shaq University,' " O'Neal said at his graduation.
"This is a day I'll always remember."
His classmates seemed pleased to share the spotlight.
Eric Bacas carried a sign that read, "Look Ma, Me & Shaq
Graduate."
"Actually I went to school with him when he was here," said
Bacas, 30. "We both left and went to work and still got our
degree. I just hope this evens up our earning capacity."
The graduation of a high profile athlete was a good message to
send youngsters, said fellow graduate Wardell Sykes, an LSU
football player.
"He made a promise and he fulfilled it," Sykes said. "That's
always good. Plus people know he's graduating. There are a lot of
other athletes graduating here today, but nobody but their families
are paying attention to that."
According to a study released last month by the NCAA, less than
half of all male basketball players at major colleges graduate,
although the percentage has improved slightly from 41 percent in
1999 to 42 percent this year. The rate for black players improved
from 33 percent to 34 percent.
Of the 12 players LSU has sent to the NBA in the last 15 years,
O'Neal is the third to earn his degree.
O'Neal attended summer school at LSU, but for the most part
earned credit through its independent studies program.
"Yes, I am the valedictorian," O'Neal joked. "They didn't
mention it to you yet, but I did get a 4.0."
He declined to give his real grade-point average or ranking in
the class but admitted it was difficult working for his degree
without the discipline of school or his mother looking on.
"I got real frustrated many, many times," O'Neal said. "When
I was at school, my mom was on me to study and go to class. When I
left I got very, very lazy, especially being in Hollywood and in
movies and stuff. I had to re-teach myself to study, re-teach
myself how to read."
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O'Neal puts graduation ahead of Lakers' game Friday
AUDIO VIDEO
 Shaquille O'Neal looks forward to having his college jersey retired.
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