Shaquille O'Neal Delights Young Middle School Athletes with Surprise Video Chat Appearance

Professional Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal teamed up with Tony the Tiger and fellow basketball player, Candace Parker, to surprise some deserving middle school athletes.

Shaquille O'Neal and Candace Parker teamed up with Kellogg's Frosted Flakes mascot, Tony the Tiger, to gatecrash a Zoom call and surprise some middle school basketball players and cheerleaders. To the surprised kids, the fictional tiger said:

"...I'm on a mission to make sure when sports come back, they come back for everybody..."

Following Tony's introduction, Shaquille jumped right in and said that they knew that the kids who were studying at Philadelphia's Young Scholars Charter School were missing sports, and they wanted to help them out with Kellogg's "Mission Tiger."

He revealed that his "Mission Tiger" buddies would be donating $200,000 to the school to build a new court, with new uniforms and equipment that would help give them fresh starts to follow their dreams.

The kids' teacher, who was also on the call with them, thanked O'Neal, Tony, and Candace for the support and for putting smiles on their faces.

In April, Big Shaq reportedly decided to foot the funeral bills of a murdered 18-year-old athlete.

The "Mission Tiger" was an initiative by Kellogg's to give middle school kids, across the country, access to sports to ensure that when sports returned into play after the pandemic, they would be back for all the middle school kids.

The eloquent tiger expressed how excited he was to see the kids back on the court as soon as they were able to return. The NBA star revealed his motivation to help the kids. He explained:

"Wherever you can help kids and keep them on the right paths, it's just the right thing to do..."

"Big Shaq," as the former athlete is fondly called, also explained that the mission was to ensure that the kids got all the sports funding they needed to keep them out of trouble.

He added that he had six kids, and he knew what happened when they didn't get sports — they would go straight to their phones and remain idle.

In April, Big Shaq reportedly decided to foot the funeral bills of a murdered 18-year-old athlete, Dexter Rentz, who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Orlando — Shaq played there in his first years in the NBA.

When O'Neal heard of the tragic incident, he was moved by the news that he reached out to the young star's grieving parents and offered to pay for all the funeral expenses, and anything else the boy's mom wanted.

The thoughtful sports star also spoke out against the resumption of the NBA season that was halted due to the unexpected pandemic to help keep people safe. Shaquille's daunting figure has never for once overshadowed the kind-hearted man that he is on the inside.