O'Neal spends time with veterans, opens Big Chicken at UBS Arena

ELMONT, New York -- Shaquille O'Neal went to UBS Arena to promote opening a Big Chicken restaurant in another hockey arena on Thursday, but before he even realized it was Veterans Day, the NBA icon stopped by to surprise a tour group of veterans.

After greeting them and thanking them for their service, O'Neal helped the 11 veterans unveil The Chair of Honor, dedicated to prisoners of war and those who went missing in action.
"[It] symbolizes that there will always be a place for them at UBS Arena awaiting their safe return," the New York Islanders tweeted.
The padded, all-black chair sits unoccupied under the Islanders championship banners and reads "You are not forgotten" across its center.

"Whenever I see a veteran, I just like to tell them, 'Thank you,'" O'Neal said. "We have to respect the people who make it possible for us to live the way we live."
Those ideals stem from O'Neal's experience visiting the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It was back in his playing days, and he was nursing a toe injury during his time walking around the hospital.
"I don't want to play. I'm complaining," O'Neal said. "I go to Walter Reed and there's a guy with no arms and no legs and he's the happiest I've ever seen a person in my life. He's happy because he's getting new prosthetics and he's going to go back and kick some more [butt] in Afghanistan, that's what he told me."
O'Neal changed his whole school of thought right then and there.
"This guy has no arms and no legs, he's not complaining and I'm acting like a spoiled, rich brat," he said. "I'll never complain about anything again. That was one of my biggest life lessons."
The four-time NBA champion was raised to be tough. His mother Lucille married Army drill sergeant Phillip Harrison, who helped raise him under strict rules. He taught O'Neal respect, financial responsibility and how to protect and provide for his family.
"I'm all about respect," O'Neal said. "You have to love and respect people that protect our country. I can't disrespect [Harrison] by calling him my stepfather. He's my dad."
Throughout O'Neal's career, Harrison kept the NBA champion's trophies in a box as a reminder to never be satisfied. When Harrison died in 2013, O'Neal retrieved his trophies and made a trophy room in his father's honor. Harrison's teachings stay with O'Neal, who adopted the same practice with his own children.
In 2018, after wanting to venture into the restaurant space on his own, O'Neal launched Big Chicken, a fast-casual restaurant serving American-style comfort food.

"I love the story of McDonald's," he said. "I love the story of Wendy's. I'm good friends with the owner of Canes. I wanted to create my own story."
The restaurant is franchising, with hopes to reach farther than the entrepreneur's 7-foot-1 frame. For the first few years, O'Neal said he focused on the Las Vegas and Glendale locations, hammering out the kinks before starting to franchise.
Now, Big Chicken sits near the Big Apple.
The New Jersey native's restaurant is in section 206 of UBS Arena.
O'Neal admitted he doesn't know all the rules of the game but enjoys watching hockey on T.V. What he applauds about UBS Arena is the experience it offers New York fans.
"It's not only a building, it's a destination," he said. "When I started playing, there were hot dogs, popcorn, some Jujyfruits, soda, water and then you're done. Now, it's pizza, beer, parties, you can walk around, go to concerts and all that. I just wanted to give [the fans] something different. I've never seen a chicken sandwich in an arena."
O'Neal's Inside the NBA co-analyst and friend Charles Barkley, however, is an avid hockey fan. Barkley has his own namesake of a sandwich on the Big Chicken menu. With fried chicken, mac and cheese, crispy fried onions and roasted garlic BBQ aioli, O'Neal said it only takes him two bites to finish, "the sloppiest sandwich in the world."
A sandwich special to UBS Arena -- The Islander -- has fried chicken, ranch, cream cheese and pickles on a blue and orange colored plain bagel. Big Chicken also has a big cookie that's the same diameter as a basketball.

O'Neal opened Big Chicken's first in-arena location at the Seattle Kraken's Climate Pledge Arena in October. New York fans can try O'Neal's favorite comfort food when the Islanders take the ice for their first game at the new arena on Nov. 20.
One thing is for sure, you won't see him on skates.
"Hell no," O'Neal said. "Never."