William Gambrell Henry (December 27, 1924 – January 1, 1985) was an American professional basketball player. Henry played for one season with the Fort Wayne Pistons (1948–49) in the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...

(BAA) before splitting the following season with the Pistons and Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He recorded career totals of 613 points and 103 assists. Although he played professionally, Henry is better known for his college basketball career at Rice University. At Rice, Henry played three varsity seasons (

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

– 45). A , 215 lb center, Henry was twice selected as a consensus NCAA All-American, once in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

and again in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 1944–45, he led the Owls to an undefeated Southwest Conference season and only lost one game all season. He scored 280 points in 12 conference games that year, good for a 23.3

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

average. He was also one of the biggest players in the league and led Rice to Southwest Conference first-place finishes all three years he played for them. In his

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

season of 1942–43, Rice qualified for the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

(NIT), which at the time was as popular and respected as the modern day

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

. Rice would lose to the eventual tournament champion St. John's, 51–49, in the first round. Henry was listed as Rice University's all-time greatest men's basketball player in the 2009 book ''ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game''. He was also inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame as part of the 1970 class. Bill Henry died five days after his 60th birthday.

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Bill 1924 births 1985 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Dallas Centers (basketball) Fort Wayne Pistons players Place of death missing Professional Basketball League of America players Rice Owls men's basketball players Tri-Cities Blackhawks players