Back in 2016, Florida police officer Bobby White responded to a neighbor’s complaint about teenagers playing hoops “too loudly” in the street. Instead of shutting down the game, Bobby joined in on the fun for a while before being called away. He promised to return with “backup” so everyone could play an even bigger game in the street.
Bobby’s interaction with the teens turned into a viral video — which caught the eye of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq reached out to Bobby. And when Bobby returned to the street to make good on his promise to bring “backup,” the teenagers were shocked when Shaq stepped out of the police cruiser to play ball.
That adventure inspired Bobby to start a charity group called the Basketball Cop Foundation that buys hoops and equipment for kids who don’t have them.
Fast forward 10 years and Bobby is still making an impact in communities across the country with his charity group — and Shaq is still involved. When he bumped into three of the kids at a parade, they weren’t kids anymore. He was so thrilled to see his old friends and was so happy by the way things turned out through the years that he gave the boys — now men — each brand-new cars on the spot.