This topic contains 5 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by AvatarAvatar ch15r36is 15 years, 11 months ago.

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  • Posted on: Mon, 06/01/2009 - 5:27pm #4354
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    ch15r36is
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    – Shaq was born on 3/6/72
    – He was drafted in 1992 after his Junior year at the age of 20.
    – That means he started college in 1989, and played almost his entire freshman season, at age 17.

    Does anyone know how this is possible? Either Shaq started college at a very young age, or he has been lying about his age for years, and no one noticed this rather obvious issue. I understand that you can start college at age 17, but usually that means your birthday is in September or October at the beginning of the year…not in March of the next year.
    Let me know if you have any info.

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  • Posted on: Mon, 06/01/2009 - 5:29pm #155417
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    The8thDeadlySin
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    Cant you start at 16. I mean, what about the smart kids that get double promoted. I started college with a guy who was 16.

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  • Posted on: Mon, 06/01/2009 - 5:35pm #155419
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    Adi Joseph

    Without looking into it, my hypothesis is that big kids are often forced to play a grade up, especially when it comes to their last year of middle school. Shaq may have skipped a grade so that he could play at his own grade level.

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  • Posted on: Mon, 06/01/2009 - 5:50pm #155426
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    wowthisisneat
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    20 end of junior year-draft
    19 end of soph year
    18 end fresh year
    17 end high school
    This one year gap can probably be explained by Shaq going to a DODDS school for some time. This is like a military base school. Transferring to and from this type of school could have amounted to the age difference.

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  • Posted on: Mon, 06/01/2009 - 8:20pm #155472
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    ucantcheckmejdj3
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    he was 17/18 during his freshmen year….thats not like its uncommon. i was 17 when i started college too

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  • Posted on: Tue, 06/02/2009 - 2:18am #155507
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    ch15r36is
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    I think you probably nailed it. It probably has something to do with the army base schools that he attended or being moved up at some point because of his size. I just noticed that Shaq was quite young to be going into the league with 3 years of college experience…and wanted to see if anyone knew the reason.
    I was also 17 when I started college, but usually the cutoff is 11/1 or so for birthdays, so most people turn 18 by November of their freshman year. No offense to Shaq, but I can’t imagine he’s the type of guy who was skipping grades due to his academic prowess.

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