Fort Worth boy with cancer surprised with intro video from Shaq before honorary start
It’s not everyday you see Shaquille O’Neal in Texas, let alone Fort Worth.
But the global icon made an appearance in White Settlement when he found his way onto the video board at the Brewer boys basketball game two weeks ago.
“He’s a shooter, he’s a slasher, he’s a worker, he can do it all. 4-foot-7 from White Settlement, Texas ... CARTER ESCOBAR,” Shaq yelled as the gym began to fill with ‘Carter’ chants.
Shaq, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, is an analyst for the Emmy award-winning Inside the NBA on TNT. He played for six organizations over his 20-year NBA career.
But why was the four-time NBA champion introducing Carter Escobar, a 9-year-old from Fort Worth?
Carter has stage 4 cancer and Long QT syndrome, and with tumors all over his body, he doesn’t have much time left. Playing for the Brewer Bears was on his bucket list. He started the game and made his only field goal attempt.
“We had no idea what to expect and they just kept coming,” Carter’s mother Rachel said.
The video started with a message from Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell. Then Mavericks and NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki came next. Shaq capped it off as Escobar took the floor in his No. 12 jersey.
“Carter said it was cool. Dirk was the biggest deal for him. We were at his last home game, which was his first NBA game,” Rachel said. “Shaq was cool for Juan [Carter’s father] and I because we are big Lakers fans.
“It’s just amazing to see people that are such a big deal make a big deal about your son. To know they know his name and they cared enough to take time to make those videos, it means so much to us. Made the night extra special.”
Brewer football coach Todd Peterman reached out to a friend, Ro Parrish, who got a hold of Shaq.
Parrish is from DeSoto, Peterman’s previous stop and works with Shaq at TNT.
Basketball coach Jason Porostovsky called his friend, Neal Hawks, the brother-in-law of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, to get Dirk.
“The whole idea was to give him one night where he wasn’t thinking about what he was dealing with,” Porostovsky said. “I thought it was pretty special, Carter getting recognized by them.”
Nearly $4,000 was raised at the Brewer-Grapevine game on Feb. 14. Proceeds from the concession stand and sales from ‘Carter Strong’ t-shirts went to the Escobar family.
A bucket was passed around during the game for donations. It came back with $1,700.
“Lots of people have been very generous,” Rachel said.
As for the game, Carter got the ball and dribbled down the lane and scored the game’s first — if not most important meaningful — basket of the night.
This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
