Eddleman earned a combined 11 varsity letters in his career at the university, during which he also became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

In 2007, the Illinois High School Association named Eddleman one of the 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament.

He was placed in the Army Air Corps and, after being sent to Fort Sheridan in Chicago for basic training, he was stationed in Miami Beach where he was assigned as a physical trainer for new cadets, all while still being only 20 years of age.

Following approximately eighteen months in Florida, Eddleman returned to his home state near Belleville, Illinois stationed at Scott Field.

Eddleman would close out his military service in the fall of 1946, transitioning back to the life of a college student athlete.

Eddleman returned by train to Champaign, where he joined the reunited remaining group of "The Whiz Kids", Ken Menke, Gene Vance, and Andy Phillip as well as All-American guard Walt Kirk on the basketball team to play in a January 4 game against the University of Mexico in which the Illini would win by a score of 94–36.

In the 1948–49 season, Eddleman would lead the basketball team to the Big Ten title, and an appearance in the NCAA Final Four.

After qualifying, Eddleman traveled to London in good company with Illini teammate Bob Richards as well as other Olympic notables including Harrison Dillard, Herb McKenley, Clyde "Smackover" Scott, and Bill Porter.

After qualifying in their respective events, the two Illinois athletes made a quick trip back to Champaign-Urbana on the train, leaving the next day to join the other American Olympic hopefuls in New York in order to board the SS America with a final destination of England.

The high jump took place on the first day of competition, July 30, 1948, and John Winter, a 23-year-old bank clerk from Perth, cleared a height of 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) on his first attempt.

[5] After the Games, Eddleman competed in an additional track and field meet in Glasgow, Scotland, winning the high jump at a personal-best height of 6 ft 8.5 in (2.04 m).

He then returned to the United States on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, arriving in Centralia by train to a citywide celebration.

After playing for the Tri-City Blackhawks and the Milwaukee Hawks, he was traded to the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons which resulted in a move to Indiana.

[6] During the off-season of the two years that he played in Indiana, Eddleman utilized his physical education degree by working as the recreational director for Central Soya, Incorporated, a Midwest soybean processing company.

Prior to the 1954–55 season, after learning he would be traded to the Baltimore Bullets, a team that dropped out of the NBA and folded after playing 14 games in 1954, Eddleman decided to retire from professional basketball and work full-time for Central Soya.

In 1956, Eddleman was transferred to a new plant in Gibson City, Illinois, a town located just 30 miles north of Champaign.

In 1969 Eddleman left Central Soya and accepted the executive director of Grants-In-Aid position with the University of Illinois Foundation, a fundraising entity working with Fighting Illini Alumni to provide financial aid for student athletes.