Eddie Shannon (born January 29, 1977) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. Shannon, a native of West Palm Beach in Florida, has played his entire career essentially with only one eye. At the age of 10 while playing with some of his seventh-grade friends, Eddie was unintentionally hit in the right eye with a rock, forever altering his vision. Following the accident, he underwent surgery to remove blood clots from his eye, and a year later, had a cataract removed. As an eighth-grader, his vision began to blur, and he could only see shadows. Even with limited vision, Eddie went on to star for Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach which led him to be recruited by the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

(UF) where he became the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

starting

Point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

and is among the schools all-time leaders in assists and steals. Shannon graduated from UF in 1999. Despite Shannon continuing to excel on the basketball court, the vision in his right eye got progressively worse. After consulting a doctor, he decided to have a certain type of surgery, known as an

Evisceration Evisceration (pronunciation: /ɪvɪsəˈreɪʃən/) is disembowelment, i.e., the removal of viscera (internal organs, especially those in the abdominal cavity). The term may also refer to: * Evisceration (autotomy), ejection of viscera as a defen ...

, which involves removing parts of his eye. He was eventually fitted with a cosmetic prosthesis that covers his damaged cornea leading him to wear goggles when playing, though he has since discarded them. Most of Shannon's professional career has been played in European leagues which included stints with

KK Split Košarkaški klub Split (), commonly referred to as KK Split or simply Split, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, Croatia. The club competes in the ABA League and the HT Premijer liga, Croatian Leag ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and

Strasbourg IG Strasbourg Illkirch-Graffenstaden Basket, most commonly known as SIG Basket or SIG Strasbourg, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Strasbourg. The club, founded in 1929, competes domestically in the French Pro A League. The ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In all he spent some nine seasons in Europe including a stint as teammate to

Australian Boomers The Australia men's national basketball team, nicknamed the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has placed among the world elite teams, ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Chris Anstey Christopher John Anstey (born 1 January 1975) is an Australian former professional basketball player. His career included stints in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Russia and Spain. Anstey was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers i ...

PBC Ural Great PBC Ural Great Perm was a Russian professional basketball club located in Perm. The club's home arena was Molot Sports Hall. The team played in the Russian Super League. History The club was established in the year 1995 on the basis of the l ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Eddie Shannon signed as an import player for the Adelaide 36ers midway through the 2010-11 NBL season and made his debut for the club as a substitute against the

Wollongong Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) are an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketbal ...

on December 10, 2010 where he scored 12 points and had 5 assists in a solid debut for his new team. For the rest of the NBL season Shannon started all bar two games for the 36ers, only missing the two games due to an ankle sprain. At the end of the 2010–11 season Shannon had played 18 games for the 36ers and averaged 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Following the NBL season, Shannon was released by the 36ers. He then returned home to Florida where he hosted a basketball camp in West Palm Beach on July 23, 2011. Eddie Shannon is now an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.
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