Bernard Joseph Mehen (September 19, 1918 – May 11, 2007) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played in the National Basketball League for the Youngstown Bears and

Toledo Jeeps The Toledo Jeeps were a professional basketball team that played in the National Basketball League from 1946 to 1948. As with many other NBL teams, they owed their name to an industry of their hometown, in this case the Willys Jeep Plant. They ...

and averaged 6.9 points per game. He served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and suffered a foot injury caused by

mortar shell A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a ...

. Bernie's younger brother

Dick Mehen Richard Peter Mehen (May 20, 1922 – December 14, 1986) was an American basketball player. Career Mehen played college basketball at University of Tennessee, but his career was interrupted by service in the United States Air Force during World ...

played alongside him at both the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

and with the Toledo Jeeps.

References

External links

Wheeling, WV Hall of Fame profile
1918 births 2007 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II American men's basketball players Basketball players from West Virginia Centers (basketball) Forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Wheeling, West Virginia Tennessee Volunteers basketball players Toledo Jeeps players Youngstown Bears players {{1910s-US-basketball-bio-stub