Ed O'Bannon
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Edward Charles O'Bannon, Jr. (born August 14, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a former basketball player, who was a star small forward for the UCLA Bruins, where he was known as "Ed-O," but had a less-than-illustrious career as a professional basketball player. He is the older brother of former Detroit Pistons guard Charles O'Bannon, who also played collegiate ball at UCLA.
He was a McDonald's High School All-American coming from Artesia High School and was all set to go to UNLV when the program came under probation due to recruiting improprieties, and he switched to UCLA. He had little impact, however, at the beginning as he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. He was told he might not be able to walk properly again,[1] but eighteen months later, he returned to playing basketball and became the team leader. He was the key to UCLA's 1995 NCAA Basketball Championship scoring 30 points and taking 17 rebounds. For the season, he averaged 20.4 points (.533 field-goal percentage, .433 3-point percentage) and 8.3 rebounds, enough to earn him the John R. Wooden Award as well as the Oscar Robertson Trophy that year. His number 31 was then retired by the Bruins.
Selected ninth by the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft, he entered the league with high expectations, but was unable to find a place in the professional game, being too small for an NBA forward and too slow to be a guard. In his two seasons for the Nets, he averaged 6.2 and 4.2 points per game respectively. He was unloaded to the Dallas Mavericks in his third and final NBA season, where he had even less of an impact. His final indignity was being traded (along with Derek Harper) and then promptly released by the Orlando Magic on the 24th of September 1997. He is now considered one of the biggest all-time draft busts.[2]
After his NBA career, O'Bannon played professional basketball in Italy, Spain, Greece, Argentina and Poland (in Anwil Włocławek, Polonia Warszawa and Astoria Bydgoszcz). He decided to retire at age 30 after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. When he made his decision, he was in the process of trying out for a new league in China but realized he had no more motivation to play the game. Furthermore, the people holding the tryouts had never even heard of him.[2]
He attended UNLV to finish his bachelor's degree. He now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and children and is employed as a car salesman. O'Bannon is not one to wallow in the past. He told the Los Angeles Times, "People see me and remember me and I'm proud to tell them — 'No, I don't play. No, I don't coach. Yes, I sell cars.'"[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Miech, Rob. "The GIFT", Las Vegas Sun, December 10, 2004. Retrieved on 2005-08-19.
- ^ a b c Plaschke, Bill. "Fame was fickle for UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon", Los Angeles Times, April 3, 2006, p. D1. Retrieved on 2006-04-03.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Corliss Williamson |
NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player (men's) 1995 |
Succeeded by Tony Delk |
| Preceded by Glenn Robinson |
John R. Wooden Award (men) 1995 |
Succeeded by Marcus Camby |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | O'Bannon, Edward Charles, Jr. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Professional basketball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 14, 1972 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Los Angeles, California |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
