Eugene Campbell III (190-G-1995, college: NJCU, agency: Daggers Sports)l is a 30 year old 190cm guard from New Jersey living the ballers dream having played overseas now for six years. He has played in countries like Moldova, Armenia, Portugal, Bosnia, Peru Malta and Jordan. He began his basketball career at East Brunswick high school and then played 2 years at Middlesex County College (JUCO) averaging 15.4ppg, 3.6rpg, FGP: 48.6%, 3PT: 39.5%, FT: 92.9% in his last season. He then played 35 games at New Jersey City University (NCAA3) from 2016-2018. He spoke to geramnhoops.com about the horror that he experienced in the country of Jordan.

Thanks Eugene for talking to germanhoops.com. You have been a pro overseas almost 10 years having played in Moldova, Armenia, Portugal, Bosnia, Peru, Malta, Lebanon and Jordan. What was the worst experience that you have had with all the politics off the court before this season?

The worst experience that I have had is my situation in Jordan I have never been in a situation like this in my life. I was sitting in the house for almost two weeks without playing basketball water was cut off for hours there was no heat for multiple days and the stove didn’t work after my second day there. I was supposed to play the Jordanian cup which consisted of 3-4 games and after that I would go back to USA I had a game fresh off the flight 3 hours after I landed. We won the game and I had 23 points 9 rebounds and 5 assists with 0 turnovers. Everyone told me I had a great game and played well and we achieved victory. I thought everything was good until the coach messaged me after practice the following day saying I was cut from the team. I accepted it even though I didn’t understand it. He also told me in the message I will get your salary as well as your flight home and he asked me for my flight details afterwards. I gave them my airport information and afterwards got no response. I was off the team not asked to practice with the team and kicked out the group chat so I was just sitting in the house not playing basketball no gym access just waiting. Days went by and I’m asking about to the information of my flight and money so I can get home and no one is giving me clear communication. The coach told me go to the agent the agent told me go to the coach. They were blaming each other for days and didn’t want to help me. My agent told me the club can only fly me from Turkey because my layover to Jordan was in Turkey. He also suggested Greece randomly and the reason for that can only be because my cousin Kenneth Faried who heard the conversation plays basketball in Greece and he was trying to send me there to make him fly me back to America. They were trying to be cheap and unreasonable instead of getting me home. I was told eventually they I had to evacuate the apartment in the morning and that is when I took matters into my own hands and when I went on social media to let my friends and family know how I was being treated. This changed everything immediately. My posts went viral and I received a lot of support from social media and it forced the management to speak up. They were so flooded with posts that the management took the club page down off instagram. They eventually tried to hit me up and said take the post down if you want to fly home. I was told to take something down to fight for myself for them to give me a flight they were already supposed to give me. It was horrible. I refused to take it down and they finally got my flight and let me go home. I didn’t get my money but it was more important for me to get home safely because I felt like I was danger at some point.

This season has been a roller coaster ride as you have played in Malta, Lebanon and Jordan. When you look at your career is it all worth what you have experienced this season?

Malta was a great experience shoutout to coach Harry for giving me the opportunity to play in Malta and perform great numbers to get into Lebanon. Shoutout to Faisal and the Crew Management for getting me a job in Lebanon to play for Hrajel Tadamon. Everything was great until I was injured because the glass in the shower exploded and left me with several cuts on my body including a huge gash on my hand. I had to get 7 stitches in my hand and even at this very moment my hand hasn’t completely closed. Unfortunately because of this injury I missed 3 games. Shortly after this the season was cut short in Lebanon because of the war. I felt like I needed to play more games and get more film so when I was presented with the opportunity to go to Jordan while I was in Turkey I took it. Taking this opportunity started off great but ended really bad. The person responsible for the trusted Jordanian basketball page the Coach of Inglizia club and the Crew management were all responsible for what transpired to me. There is no one specific person to give all the blame to but all three of them made this situation difficult for me and there was a lot of lies and shady business going on that led to my situation being what it was.

I guess you really have to love the game to have to experience so much hardship off the court with clubs?

I love the game with all my heart but I will never deal with this type of situation ever again I wish everyone the best for who were involved in this deal but I will be parting ways with all parties in the situation because they not only effected my mental health but they tried to make me look like I was the issue knowing they were doing shady business.

You began the season in Malta with Valletta Dream (Malta-BOV League D1) averaging 35,0 points per game. How do you summarize your stay there?

Malta was a great country the coaching staff was great the team was great and the league was fun. The only problem was the money and we had to take time to develop chemistry with the club in order to win games. My teammates are great people and I talk to them till this day. If they had the money I wanted I would of stayed but I told Coach Harry my situation and he understood.

You only practiced twice a week. Was this the best opportunity to work relentlessly in the gym or was gym time also a problem?

Even though we practiced twice a week I was in the gym everyday because we had access to the gym everyday and I also had a membership at 24/7 fitness so I was able to go to the gym

At any hour of the day. The two practices a week were not that bad because we only played once a week and I was able to have time to recover after games because I played almost 39 minutes every game.

Then you landed in Lebanon with Tadamon Hrajel (Lebanon-DLBL). You only played 5 games and lost 4. The one game you won you scored 30 points. How do you summarize your month in Lebanon ?

Lebanon was cool shoutout to the Crew agency for making it happen but it was a strange situation with the club having a bad losing record and players being swapped when I arrived. The team definitely had good people they just weren’t as organized as other teams in the league. The new president was great and paid me on time so I had no issues with money. They honored the contract and we’re professional. The coach was a great person but I didn’t understand his method at times because we had no set plays but he was a great coach and respected me as a professional. Overall Lebanon was a great experience I became close with my teammates I made good money and I was able to help the club win its first game.

You then moved to Al Inglizia Sports Club (Jordan-Premier League). With what expectations did you come to Jordan this time? You already had played in Jordan once with Shabab Bushra.

I thought that Al Inglizia was going to be similar to Shabab Bushra because I had a great time with Shabab Bushra. Those guys are my brothers. I talk to my teammates from Shabab Bushra almost everyday they are great people and I love them. That is the best group of guys I ever played with in my whole career. Even though they weren’t rich in money they were rich in brotherhood and respect. English club was a club with more money but treated me strange. I felt like that were two faced, they would smile in my face but talk behind my back negatively. They’re were teammates on this club that were great people who treated me like a brother and respected me. I had played against some of them last year in Jordan and they remembered how good I played and gave me the respect. I’ve learned that some people don’t care about the player they just care about the money. It’s very easy to do both but some people are greedy and that’s fine I will just remove myself from those situations. I wish the club the best of luck no bad blood they just have to treat players better because what I went through there is not ok.

But Jordan turned out to be different. You played 1 game and then the problems began. Please talk about your experiences? You had no water or heat.

The stove was not on after my second day we reached out and got no response the water was cut off for hours after 5 days and we got a response hours later and it was cut back on. The heat was cut off for about 4 to 5 days and we got no response. It wasn’t until I went viral on social media that they cut the stove on and had someone to put the heat in the apartment. I have all the screenshots and proper documentation to back up everything I said on this interview so if any one has a problem please feel free to contact me.

Have you had support from your teammates? Are you the lone American on the team?

I’ve had a tremendous amount of support from my teammates all three of us lived in the same house going through very similar issues. We stuck together throughout the process and made sure we had each others backs. I am grateful to have met them and I have built a bond with them that will last forever.

You wanted to get home to the States, but had no money. You started a Go Fund Me project. How did that come about?

I have money I just couldn’t use it because I had to replace my credit card due to a fraud transaction that was made in Lebanon. I ordered a new card in the mail but it wouldn’t let me activate my new card to my Apple wallet. I would have needed to physically activate it in order to use it. As a result I had no way to purchase the flight home and started the go fund me. The go fund me was amazing. I set the goal to 3.5k to get me home because at the time flights were around 2k and I wanted extra breathing room for my two check bags Uber money food and getting back to my home in New Jersey. In about 2 days I ended up raising about $16,000. My family, friends and community really had my back and I appreciate them very much. Because of the great amount of funds I offered to give people back their money on social media and if they didn’t want to give the money back it would go into Walkamilenourshoes non profit organization to give back to those in need. Walkamilenourshoes Inc provides shoes clothes toilet trees and essential needs for those who need it the most. I started the organization in 2019 and I have impacted the lives of many and will continue to do so. Since my community had my back and raised the funds to get me home and some it’s my priority to pour that right back into the community.

When a baller like yourself goes through a tough time like what you went through in Jordan, does one lose faith in the process of being a pro player overseas?

I never lost faith in being a pro overseas I just learned a valuable lesson. Pay attention to the early signs of bad business and remove yourself from the situation before it gets worse. I was warned by many people not to do business with these guys but because they had legitimate reputations and were getting people I know jobs I thought I was going to be in a good situation but I ended up being a part of the vicious cycle. I have no animosity or hatred towards the parties involved in this Jordan deal. I wish them the best of look in their respected jobs I just know to never do business with them again as they had myself as well as my family sleepless and worried over this situation. My family comes before all of these people and I will never put them in a situation like this ever again.

What advice can you give to other overseas ballers who may be going through these kind of problems?

The best advice I can give to other ballers is to never let people abuse you and get away with it. Speak up for yourself. It is 2026 social media rules the world speak up for what you believe in. Once I posted what was going on all parties involved in my situation ( The club the consultant and Agent) were communicating with me a lot more than when I was asking them nicely to get me home. It was as if they were scared. The club blocked me and deactivated their page for a little while because of the amount of people that tagged them on social media. Trusted Jordan basketball blocked me on everything because he was scared and didn’t want to take accountability for what he did to me. My agent provided a lot of false information and was playing both sides even though he knew the club was wrong for what they did. Moral of the story speak up and make sure you network with people and have a pure heart. When you do right by people, people do right by you and that’s why I get the support I got from my community.

How big is your love for the game still after this experience? Will you continue to play overseas? Your 30 and surely still have some good years in you.

I still have so much passion for the game and I won’t let this situation stop me from living my dream and doing what I love to do. I will just make sure that I work with people who want to do business the right way and that I am in a comfortable situation so I can properly do my job.

Thanks Eugene for the chat.