Edward Charles O'Bannon, Jr. (born August 14, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a retired American basketball player, who was a power forward for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball team on their 1995 NCAA championship team, where he was known as "Ed-O". He was selected by the New Jersey Nets with the ninth overall pick in the 1995 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft, but played only two seasons in the NBA before playing another eight years professionally in six different countries.
[edit] High school and college
O'Bannon averaged 24.6 points, 9.7 rebounds in his senior year at Artesia High School. He led Artesia to a 29–2 record that year, and they won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II state championship. He was the most valuable player (MVP) at the Dapper Dan Classic, a high school All-Star game, and he was named a McDonald's High School All-American as well as honored by Basketball Times as its national high school player of the year.[1][2] He originally planned to attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), but he did not sign a letter of intent with the university at the suggestion of UNLV head coach Jerry Tarkanian. However, when UNLV's men's basketball program was placed on probation due to recruiting improprieties, O'Bannon rescinded his commitment and instead attended UCLA.[3]
Six days before the official start of practice at UCLA, O'Bannon tore his anterior cruciate ligament as he landed awkwardly on a dunk during a pickup game with other Bruins.[1][3] He was told he might not be able to walk properly again, but eighteen months later, after receiving a graft from a cadaver, he returned to playing basketball.[3][4] In his first year, he came off the bench in 23 games and averaged fewer than four points while never starting.[5] In his second season in 1993, O'Bannon was named to the first team All-Pacific-10 (Pac-10) Conference team.[6] In his junior year, he was named the team's MVP[7] and was again first team All-Pac-10.[6] In his senior year, O'Bannon was the key to UCLA's 1995 NCAA Basketball Championship, scoring 30 points and taking 17 rebounds and was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player.[5] For the season, he averaged 20.4 points (.533 field-goal percentage, .433 3-point percentage) and 8.3 rebounds, earning him the John R. Wooden Award, USBWA College Player of the Year (now Oscar Robertson Trophy), and the CBS/Chevrolet Player of the Year. He was a consensus first team All-American, Pac-10 co-Player of the Year along with Damon Stoudamire,[8] first team All-Pac-10 for the third consecutive year,[6] and UCLA's co-MVP along with Tyus Edney.[7]
His number 31 was retired by the Bruins on February 1, 1996, and he was inducted into UCLA Athletics Hall off Fame in 2005.[8]
[edit] Professional career
Leading up to the 1995 NBA Draft, O'Bannon hoped he would get drafted by a team in the West. Selected ninth by the New Jersey Nets of the NBA in the first round, he signed a three-year, $3.9 million contract. However, he became homesick.[9] In his two professional seasons, he was unable to find a place in the NBA, being too lean too play down low and not quick enough with his rebuilt knees to guard the perimeter.[3] His knee started to break down also.[9] He averaged 6.2 and 4.2 points per game respectively with the Nets and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks later in his second and final NBA season, where he had even less of an impact. In September 1997 he was traded along with Derek Harper to the Orlando Magic and released. "It wasn't injury, it was confidence," O'Bannon said about his NBA career. "I missed shots, got pulled from games, it affected my defense, and I lost all my confidence."[10] Former Nets teammate Armon Gilliam said, "He's a guy who didn't find his niche in the NBA. He wasn't in the right situation to grow and develop. He never got the opportunity to prove what he could do."[3]
After his NBA career, O'Bannon played professional basketball seven years overseas in Italy, Spain, Greece, Argentina and Poland (in Anwil Włocławek, Polonia Warszawa and Astoria Bydgoszcz).[3][11] He also played one year for the startup American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Los Angeles Stars.[9] After the NBA, he only had one-year contracts and never made more than $400,000 in a season.[9] He decided to retire at age 32 after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.[citation needed] When he made his decision, he was in the process of trying out for a team in China but realized he had no more motivation to play the game.[3] Furthermore, the people holding the tryouts had never even heard of him.[10]
In his professional career, O'Bannon said he "played for 12 different teams in at least six countries and for 15 different coaches."[12]
[edit] Post retirement
As of 2009, O'Bannon was employed as a marketing director for a Las Vegas auto dealership.[13] Not wallowing in his past, in 2006, when he was a salesman at the dealership, O'Bannon 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.'"[10]
O'Bannon was a volunteer coach at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nevada.[12] In 2009, citing a renewed interest in basketball due to his children, O'Bannon accepted an offer to become the head coach of the boys' basketball team at a Henderson International School in Henderson.[14]
O'Bannon was named as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on behalf of its Division I football and men's basketball players over the organization's use for commercial purposes of the images of its former student athletes. Specifically, the suit argued that upon graduation, a former student athlete should become entitled to financial compensation for future commercial uses of his or her image by the NCAA.[15][16] In January 2011, Oscar Robertson, considered one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, joined O'Bannon in the class action suit.[17]
O'Bannon attended UNLV to continue earning his bachelor's degree.[4] In the summer of 2011, O'Bannon returned to UCLA to finish his degree, which he expected to complete by the end of 2011.[18] He will be inducted into the Pac-12 Basketball Hall of Honor during the 2012 Pacific-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, March 10, 2012.[19]
[edit] Personal
O'Bannon lives in Henderson, Nevada with his wife, Rosa, and their children—Aaron, Jazmin, and Edward III.[9][14]
O'Bannon is the older brother of Charles, former Detroit Pistons guard (with whom he shares the same first and middle names, in reverse order), who also played college basketball with O'Bannon at UCLA.
[edit] See also
- ^ a b Bonk, Thomas (October 11, 1990). "O'Bannon of UCLA Suffers Knee Injury". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x7hQ5KMB.
- ^ Crowe, Jerry (July 20, 1991). "O'Bannon Goes Full Speed Ahead". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x7kq9Z75.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gutierrez, Paul (March 18, 2009). "UCLA hero Ed O'Bannon". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x7p6f5hs. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
- ^ a b Miech, Rob (December 10, 2004). "The GIFT". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x7jVefVI. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
- ^ a b Penner, Mike (April 4, 1995). "Sweetness in Seattle". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x3w5MqzW.
- ^ a b c Finney 2010, p.105
- ^ a b Finney 2010, p.110
- ^ a b Finney 2010, p.102
- ^ a b c d e Sheinin, Dave (June 14, 2009). "From the Court to the Sales Floor". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 15, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5xCB3dePi.
- ^ a b c Plaschke, Bill (April 3, 2006). "Shine Wore Off, but He Wasn't Lost in Moment". Los Angeles Times: p. D1. Archived from the original on March 11, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x7GFWnJV. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
- ^ "O'Bannon's Travels and Travails". The Washington Post. June 12, 2009. Archived from the original on March 15, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5xCGF0d90.
- ^ a b Pucin, Diane (March 15, 2005). "As Good as It Got". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x8moR5l6.
- ^ Miech, Rob. (2009, January 4). "UNLV hoops notebook: A rude welcome to the MWC", Las Vegas Sun
- ^ a b Miech, Rob (June 17, 2009). "UCLA great to coach local high school basketball team". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x8n6gOaf.
- ^ Streeter, Kurt. (2009, July 22). "Former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon leads suit against NCAA over use of images", Los Angeles Times
- ^ (2009, July 21). "Former Bruin O'Bannon sues NCAA", Associated Press
- ^ Wetzel, Dan (January 26, 2011). "Robertson joins suit vs. NCAA". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5x94R1Gn2.
- ^ "Ed O'Bannon Returns To Westwood". UCLA Athletics. June 21, 2011. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5zysYzEhh. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ 2011-12 Hall of Honor Class Announced, Pacific 12 Conference, February 7, 2012
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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* Ruled ineligible after tournament
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| Persondata |
| Name |
O'Bannon, Edward Charles, Jr. |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
Professional basketball player |
| Date of birth |
August 14, 1972 |
| Place of birth |
Los Angeles, California |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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