LSU's Brown Dies at 90, Days After Coaching Honor

Dale Brown, who coached at LSU and first met a 13-year-old Shaquille O'Neal at a basketball clinic in West Germany, died Friday, Oct. 23, at age 90. Two days earlier, LSU had announced he was named the 2027 recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award.

Brown and O'Neal connected in 1984 at a clinic on a military base where O'Neal then lived. O'Neal stood 6 feet, 9 inches at 13. Brown first took him for a soldier and asked how long he had served in the Army. O'Neal told him he was 13.

After that exchange, Brown mailed O'Neal letters and basketball drills. Their correspondence continued as O'Neal became a top high school prospect, and Brown recruited him to LSU. O'Neal played for the Tigers from 1989 to 1992, earned two consensus All-American selections and two SEC Player of the Year honors, then went first overall in the 1992 NBA draft.

In a 1999 letter to Brown marking his Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame induction, later published by LSU Athletics, O'Neal wrote: "You are the only college coach I ever had, and the only one I ever wanted." O'Neal has also called Brown a "father figure, leader, and a motivator" away from the court, in a 2015 interview with Esquire. Brown attended O'Neal's first NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000. That same year, O'Neal returned to LSU to complete the degree he left in 1992, fulfilling a promise he had made to his family and to Brown.

ESPN aired the SEC Storied documentary "Shaq & Dale" in 2015, directed by Hannah Storm and narrated by Louisiana native Tim McGraw. Per LSU, Brown and O'Neal stayed in regular contact for decades through letters and emails.

On Oct. 21, LSU announced Brown would receive the Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in April 2027. O'Neal recorded a video congratulating him on the honor. Brown died two days after the announcement.