George Eddy

He is the son of a French mother, Denyse, who was visually handicapped, and an American father, David, who was partially paralyzed and was working as a literature teacher.

[3] He discovered basketball at age six when his neighbor invited him watching a game of the Harlem Globetrotters on television and fell in love with the sport.

[2] While visiting France with his mother in the summer of 1977, Eddy was looking for a place to play basketball and was put in contact with first division side Alsace de Bagnolet.

[4] However, Eddy did not see much playing time on the Bagnolet team in the early stages of the 1977–78 campaign and was about to be sent back to the United States.

[2] From 1978 to 1980, Eddy, a 6’3’’ shooter, played at Châlons-sur-Marne in the third tier of French basketball where he excelled as a scorer and finished second with the team in both seasons.

Eddy continued his professional basketball career at first-division side Nice (1982–83), before joining St. Julien-les-Villas (second division) near the city of Troyes for the 1983–84 season.

After being among the best French scorers of the league, Eddy went to Paris in 1984, turning out for Racing Club de France in the 1984–85 season.

In an article published in the New York Times in April 2017, Eddy was called "perhaps the man most responsible for introducing the country (France) to the NBA".

[11] When Michael Jordan and later Shaquille O'Neal visited France in the 1990s, Eddy served as their translator and tour guide.