20 Things You Didn't Know About the Reebok Shaq Attaq

The Shaq Attaq was designed by a woman named Judy Close, who's waist, according to our friends at Reebok, was roughly the width of Shaq's thigh. She was also responsible for many of Reebok's Blacktop designs.

"All I want to do is play basketball, drink Pepsi and wear Reebok." The quote pretty much wrapped up Shaq in a nutshell. He was already the biggest thing in basketball but he was always having fun, which made him the perfect marketing machine. The Shaq Attaq may have started with Reebok but became bigger than anyone could imagine with endorsements like Pepsi and the name attached to everything from movies and music to toys and pinball machines.

Speed lacing systems hadn't become a regular part of sneakers back in 1992. In fact, the Reebok Shaq Attaq was one of the first basketball shoes to feature the reinforced eyelets that made lacing up the Shaq Attaq a cinch.

Shaq took charge of a lot of things when it came to his partnership with Reebok. We can definitely approve of the commercials, they turned out a lot better than Kazaam.

The first time the designer, Judy Close, met with Shaq to discuss plans for the Shaq Attaq, he invited her to dinner with his parents. The meal was one of the best the designer ever had - homemade macaroni and cheese and ribs. No wonder Shaq's so big.

Not that switching up laces was anything new in 1993 - MJ famously laced up his Air Jordans in all kinds of unorthodox ways (eventually inspiring a luxe version of the Air Jordan V) - but Shaq seemed to favor black laces in his white Shaq Attaqs. Maybe he thought they made his feet look smaller. In this early shoot with the Magic, it looked like he hadn't yet made up his mind.

The Shaq Attaq was the quickest turnaround project the designer, Judy Close, ever worked on, with less than four months from conception to being on the court. No pressure or anything there.

Look on the insole of the retro. It reads "All Men Count On You, But None Too Much." The original phrase, as written by English poet Rudyard Kipling in his 1895 poem "If-", was "if all men count with you, but none too much." Shaq would think he could improve on Kipling.

It only makes sense, given that the Shaq Attaq was his first signature product. The Dunkman never exactly jumped over the Jumpman, but when you look at that two-handed jam silhouette, there's no doubt who it represents.

If the size 20 samples sent to retailers were a bit too big for you (and anyone not named Shaq), there were always the tiny molded ones that came on the Shaq Attaq figurines. They were even on his LSU models, despite the fact that he was still in L.A. Gears back then.

Given how fast the Shaq Attaq went from concept to production model, it's not surprising that there were early samples made for Shaq that weren't quite sale-ready. Check the ones he's wearing here - specifically the Pump mechanism on the tongue. You couldn't buy Shaq Attaqs with an orange ball.

While admittedly, the Shaq Attaq was a dream come true to Shaq, it wasn't his favorite Reebok. That title goes to the Shaqnosis. Click here to hear why he likes it so much.

The Shaq Attaq was the first Reebok basketball shoe to feature a Graphlite shank. The woven stability plate made the shoe lighter and more stable than previous sneakers. Not to mention, it set a trend that became almost a standard design element amongst basketball sneakers.

The Shaq Attaq was only created in two colors (home and away) to keep it special. Not to beat a dead horse, but we could definitely live with this approach to new sneakers.

The Shaq Attaq marked the biggest project at the time of the designer's career. She was taken off of all other existing projects to solely focus on the creation of the Shaq Attaq.

The Shaq Attaq originally retailed for $130, which put it on par with the Air Jordan VIII. And given inflation and the like, that means the retro's $160 pricetag may actually be low.

The Shaq Attaq was Reebok's first-ever signature shoe for an athlete and Reebok had him laced in their gear everywhere and in every ad. Yep, even before he was signed, he wore Reebok to Beaverton. Phil Knight was not happy.

The original Shaq Attaq was initially sampled in both a traitional size 9 as well as in Shaq's size, 20 (he would eventually wear a size 22). This was done to be sure that the design details would still work on such a big shoe.

Talk about staying fresh. Shaq laced up a new pair of Reeboks for every single game. Considering the size of Shaq's foot, that made for a lot of expensive Fed Ex shipments (and we thought our sneaker habits were bad).

The craziest part about the Shaq Attaq - and even Shaq's partnership with Reebok - is that there is still so much to be (re)discovered. For instance, there was an Instapump version of the original Shaq Attaq. It's almost as if the attention Shaq and Reebok got back then was so overwhelming, tiny details about one of the most iconic sneakers of all-time still remain mysterious even to those of us that have been Pumping up since before Shaq signed his deal.