Name Sam Shepherd Role Basketball Player | Height 1.80 m | |
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Sam Shepherd (born 21 April 1953), also known as El Mago, is a Venezuelan former basketball player who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics.
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Basketball career
He attended Delaware State University, and played basketball for the Hornets, as a member of which he toured with the league all-star team in Venezuela. He graduated in 1975, and after unsuccessful tryouts for NBA, CBA, and ABA teams, decided to go back to Venezuela to try his luck. There, he played on various teams in the Liga Profesional de Baloncesto, including Trotamundos de Carabobo, Panteras de Miranda, and GuaiquerÃes de Margarita. His rise to fame there earned him the nickname "El Mago". In order to qualify to join the Venezuelan national basketball team, he naturalised as a Venezuelan citizen in 1986 and gave up his U.S. citizenship. He represented his new country at the Copa Sprite in 1990, and later led the national team to a silver medal at the 1992 Tournament of the Americas.
Personal life
He grew up in North Carolina. He has a daughter Gwendolyn, who attended Temple University in Philadelphia, and a son Sam Jr., born in 1991, who inherited his father's love of basketball and tried out for the Toros de Aragua in September 2013.