Shaq Is Paying For A 7’3″ Former Basketball Player To Become A Police Officer

Imagine getting pulled over by this guy.

At 7’3″ tall, you gotta think that Jordan Wilmore could probably make a pretty good career on the basketball court. The 24-year old even played college basketball at Missouri, Northwestern State and Austin Peay State University before pursuing a professional career overseas.

But as it turns out, basketball’s not really what he wants to do with his life. Wilmore, instead, wants to become a police officer.

Now at his height he would obviously be one of the tallest police officers in the country, and in fact he set out to become the tallest police officer in Kemah, Texas when he went through the state’s police academy.

Unfortunately, Wilmore took his entrance exam and failed it by one point – he got a 69 on the test when he needed a 70.

Of course with other career opportunities available to him it would have probably been easy to give up and just go back to playing basketball. But as it turns out, Wilmore is determined to become a police officer. And thanks to another oversized cop, he’s going to get his chance, despite admitting to KHOU that he was discouraged at first:

“At first, I was down, but then, I’m like, ‘You know, I’m still young. You fail. You got to get right back up. Can’t be so quick to quit.’”

Apparently NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal heard about Wilmore’s story, and saw that the young man was attempting to join him as one of the tallest cops in the country. (Shaq graduated from the Los Angeles police academy and has served as a reserve officer for various departments). In fact, Wilmore is even taller than Shaq, who stands at 7’1″, something that the retired NBA player joked about:

“I actually found out about him through jealousy. I thought I was the tallest, handsomest cop in the world.”

But even though he’s going to demote Shaq to the second tallest cop, Wilmore still had a story that Shaq related to:

“It actually took me five to seven years to graduate from the LA Sheriff’s Academy. I wanted to just let him know he’s got my full support.”

So Shaq reached out to Wilmore and offered to sponsor him as he prepares to take the exam once again. He’s going to pay his living expenses so that Wilmore doesn’t have to have a second job and can focus on passing the exam, and has even promised to have a custom police car ready for the young man when he’s ready to hit the streets. (I can imagine that he would have trouble fitting in a regular cruiser).

According to Shaq, his desire to help comes from his appreciation for law enforcement:

“I want him to really focus on this because it’s commendable that a kid wants to be a cop. I love cops… Cops made me who I am.”

And as for Wilmore, he couldn’t be more excited to have Shaq’s help reaching his dream:

“I’m really thankful for him helping me out and being there and being a mentor for helping me through this.”

I have a feeling that once he gets out on the beat, his fellow officers are going to be happy to have him for backup.The post Shaq Is Paying For A 7’3″ Former Basketball Player To Become A Police Officer first appeared on Whiskey Riff.