Shaquille O’Neal meets fans during visit to Big Chicken in Michigan

HARTLAND, MI — Shaquille O’Neal fans flocked to Big Chicken restaurant in Hartland Friday night for a chance to see the legendary NBA star and founder of the restaurant chain.

Fans, many of whom brought basketballs and other items for O’Neal to sign, were disappointed to learn that he would not sign any autographs.

However, O’Neal shook hands with many fans during his visit and took photos with them.

O’Neal also met some of the restaurant’s staff and even took a moment to sit down for a meal.

Joselyn Burch, manager of the Hartland Big Chicken store, said business was booming at the restaurant the day of O’Neal’s visit.

She noted it was the four-time NBA champion’s first time visiting Hartland.

“It was a bit last minute. We found out last week that his schedule allowed him to come to the area,” Burch said. “It was just an opportunity for him to come see the store and basically meet the team members.

“It was a really fun environment.”

O’Neal arrived at the restaurant around 6 p.m. on Friday, September 27.

Dozens of fans, including Lisa Justusson of Commerce Township, began waiting hours early.

Justusson is a Shaquille O’Neal superfan.

She owns an O’Neal jersey from all six NBA teams he played on and wore number 34 during his own basketball career.

On the day of her visit, Justusson wore O’Neal’s Phoenix Suns jersey — which she had shipped from a relative in Arizona years ago — over an LSU T-shirt paying homage to Temple’s college days. fame as a Tiger.

“My daughters and I came to the (restaurant) grand opening in August, and we wore a Celtics jersey, a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey, and then a Miami Heat jersey,” Justusson said.

She has been a fan of O’Neal for years and almost met him once before while working at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit.

“He waved and that was it,” Justusson said. “I think just seeing it will be enough.”

The wait paid off, as she, her husband Kevin, and their daughters Hazel, 6, and Kendall, 8, finally got the chance to take a few photos with O’Neal.

“I hate to be cliché and say it was larger than life (meeting him), but I went there not even knowing what was going to happen, and now I don’t even know how to describe it,” Justusson said .

She has an entire wall in her home dedicated to O’Neal and his career and invited the Great Aristotle to her wedding.

“I already told (my family) that this would be the Christmas card,” Justusson said of the photo they took with O’Nela.

She said she liked O’Neal because of the way he carried himself off the field as much as on the field, including music, movies and businesses.

“He never got in trouble and he was good,” Justusson said. “And everything he does now is always good.”

Many of the people at the restaurant Friday afternoon were from the Hartland area.

However, at least one fan, Jacob Bondarek, drove about an hour from his home in Fraser for the chance to meet O’Neal and called it “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“It’s on that list,” Bondarek said of meeting O’Neal. “He’s my hero.”

Bondarek said he spent a lot of time in the 1990s watching O’Neal play in the NBA, and he is also a fan of what O’Neal did off the court, including making music.

Bondarek even brought a vinyl copy of “What’s Up Doc?” (Can We Rock),” which features O’Neal, for him to sign.

“I’ve been a fan forever,” Bondarek said.

Additionally, this was Bondarek’s first time at a Big Chicken, and he said the “Shaq Attack”, a chicken sandwich named after O’Neal, was the best chicken sandwich he had never eaten.

“It’s cool to see it expanding here,” Bondarek said. “I know he has a few restaurants popping up in the area.”

There were also many young fans at the restaurant to see O’Neal Friday, including Tristan Baird, 11, of Hartland.

Baird arrived at the restaurant around noon with friends after being picked up from school by one of their mothers.

A basketball player himself, Baird was thrilled when his mother told him about a week ago that O’Neal would be visiting the area.

“I was super excited,” Baird said. “I really, really wanted to come and meet him.”

One of Baird’s favorite things about O’Neal was his ability to dunk, particularly his ability to break boards.

“I loved him at the Magic,” Baird said of the NBA team in Orlando. “He was one of the best basketball players.”

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