Basketball

In the fall of 1942, Eddleman enrolled at the University of Illinois, playing on both the freshman football and basketball teams. However, in January 1943 Eddleman was called to military duty during World War II. 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. It was in Florida that he would suffer the most serious injury of his time in the military as during a beach volleyball game, Eddleman broke his right foot. Following approximately eighteen months in Florida, Eddleman returned to his home state near Belleville, Illinois stationed at Scott Field. His final destination during his military service was Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, where he played basketball for the Kittyhawks, a military service "all-star" team regarded as one of the greatest in the nation. While playing for the Kittyhawks, he was named to the College All-Star team composed of the best college players in the country. The team played games around the country, but one particularly memorable game was when the Kittyhawks beat the Harlem Globetrotters in 1945. Eddleman would close out his military service in the fall of 1946, transitioning back to the life of a college student athlete.

Upon returning to the University of Illinois, as a second semester freshman in the spring of 1947, Eddleman was immediately issued his Fighting Illini football and basketball uniforms and then flown to Berkeley, California to play in two basketball games prior to the semester commencing. The Fighting Illini played consecutive games against the University of California Berkeley on December 20 and 21. Eddleman followed that trip with another flight, this time to Pasadena to play on January 1 in the 1947 Rose Bowl game. He and his Illinois football teammates beat the UCLA Bruins by a score of 45–14, meanwhile back in Madison, Eddleman's basketball teammates would lose on the same day to the Wisconsin Badgers, the team that would go on to win the Big Ten title. 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. Eddleman was back for the remainder of a season where he would spend most of it as a backup to "The Whiz Kids". The Illini would finish with an overall record of 14–6 and a Big Ten record of 8–4, second place in the conference.

In his second season of varsity basketball, Eddleman would lead the team in scoring and be named to the Associated Press 2nd team All-American, Converse 3rd team All-American, as well as True Magazine 3rd team All-American. The team would be led by new head coach, Harry Combes to an overall record of 15 wins and 5 losses and a 7 and 5 conference record, third place in the Big Ten. After the season, Eddleman would be named First-team All-Big Ten as well as the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year.

In the 1948–49 season, Eddleman would lead the basketball team to the Big Ten title, and an appearance in the NCAA Final Four. That year, he earned the Chicago Tribune's Silver Basketball as the conference MVP. He was named a Converse 1st team All-American, Big Ten Player of the Year and earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor. Eddleman served as the team captain in 1949 and was named the team MVP that year and the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year for the second straight season. In his military shortened tenure at Illinois, Eddleman scored 618 points in 55 games for an average of 11.2 points per game, but 606 of those points were scored in his final two seasons for an average of 13.5 points per game. The Fighting Illini's record over Eddleman's three season was 50 wins and 15 losses overall and 25 wins and 11 losses in the conference.^[3]

Football

Eddleman was a member of three football teams while attending Illinois, however, the 1946 team would be the most successful. Not only would they win the 1947 Rose Bowl game, they were also the Big Ten champions finishing with 8 wins and 2 losses overall while going 6 and 1 in conference play. The 1947 team was not as successful, finishing in fourth place in the conference with a 3 and 3 record, while winning 5 games, losing 3 games and tying 1 overall. Eddleman's final season was in 1948. This team would finish in eighth place in the conference with a record of 2 and 5 and an overall record 3 wins and 6 losses. Individually, Eddleman would set several records for punting and punt returning, seven of which still stand at Illinois.

Eddleman was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 75th pick in the 1947 NFL Draft and was additionally drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 145th pick in the 1948 AAFC Draft.

Track & field

As a high school athlete, Eddleman won three Illinois state high jump titles.^[4] As a collegian, each year that Eddleman attended Illinois he also competed in track as a high jumper. Eddleman would win various high jump titles while at Illinois, including the Chicago Relays, the Illinois Tech Relays, and the Penn Relays. Additionally, he won three high jump titles in each appearance at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, the Central Collegiate Championships, and the Drake Relays. He also won an NCAA Championship in 1948 as well as Big Ten outdoor high jump titles in 1947 and 1949, the Kansas Relays, the Compton Relays, the Purdue Relays, and the Kansas City Games. During his four years of competition, his Fighting Illini team would win an NCAA championship in 1947.

On July 10, 1948, the summer of his junior year, Eddleman became eligible to participate in the 1948 Summer Olympics by qualifying at a meet held in Dyche Stadium at Northwestern University. 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. The remaining four jumpers, including Eddleman, failed three times each to match Winter. For the first time in the Olympics, ties were decided according to fewer misses. The winning height was 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m). The second-, third-, and fourth-place jumpers all cleared 6 ft 4.75 in (1.95 m). Eddleman was awarded fourth place due to his number of misses.^[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. Less than a week later, he was practicing football in Memorial Stadium.

Regular season

Playoffs