William Percey Wennington (born April 26, 1963) is a Canadian former professional basketball player who won three

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA)

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

s with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

. A

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, he represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the 1984 Olympics and 1983 World University Games, where the team won gold. He was also on the Canadian team that narrowly missed qualification for the 1992 Olympics. Wennington has been inducted into the Quebec Basketball Hall of Fame and the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Amateur career

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Wennington later attended

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School (commonly known as LuHi) is a Christian college preparatory school in Brookville, New York, United States. It was founded and built in 1960 on a estate and has a student body of approximately 420 stude ...

, where he played under coach

Bob McKillop Robert McKillop (born July 13, 1950) is an American college basketball coach who is the former head coach of the Davidson Wildcats men's team of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Early basketball career Born in Queens, New York, McKillop grew up in Qu ...

, and led the Crusaders to, at one time, a No. 1 ranking in the northeast region, and a top 10 ranking in the nation. He then was recruited to St. John's University, and he played on one NCAA Final Four team under basketball coach

Lou Carnesecca Luigi P. Carnesecca (born January 5, 1925) is an American retired college basketball coach at St. John's University. Carnesecca also coached at the professional level, leading the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association for three sea ...

Professional career

He was drafted 16th in the first round of the

1985 NBA draft The 1985 NBA Draft took place on June 18, 1985. It was also the first NBA draft of the "lottery" era. It was also around this time where the league decreased the amount of rounds the draft spent, with the previous few years lasting up to 10 roun ...

by the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

, where he played his first several seasons. Wennington made his NBA debut on October 29, 1985. On June 26, 1990, he was traded to the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

along with two 1990 first-round draft picks in exchange for Rodney McCray and two future second-round draft picks. Before signing as a free agent with the

in 1993, he spent a few years in Italy playing for Virtus (Knorr) from

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. In 1998, Chicago-area

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

restaurants sold a sandwich named after Wennington called the Beef Wennington. After the break-up of the highly successful Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, Wennington played his final NBA season with the

. He played alongside

Ron Harper Ronald Harper (born January 20, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for four teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1986 and 2001 and is a five-time NBA champion. Early life Harper was born ...

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

Scottie Pippen Scotty Maurice Pippen Sr. (born September 25, 1965), usually spelled Scottie Pippen, is an American former professional basketball player. He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with the ...

and

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding ...

. Wennington was the backup center for

Luc Longley Lucien James Longley (born 19 January 1969) is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player. He was the first Australian to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he played for four teams over 10 seasons. Long ...

Post-basketball career

After his playing career ended, Wennington became a radio color commentator for the Bulls. Wennington was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

References

External links

''CSTV.com'' with story on Wennington's induction into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wennington, Bill 1963 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Basketball players from Montreal Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Canadian expatriate basketball people in Italy Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players 1982 FIBA World Championship players Canadian radio sportscasters Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls announcers Chicago Bulls players Dallas Mavericks draft picks Dallas Mavericks players McDonald's High School All-Americans Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade National Basketball Association players from Canada Olympic basketball players of Canada Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Long Island Sacramento Kings players St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players Virtus Bologna players Universiade gold medalists for Canada Universiade medalists in basketball

Amateur career

Professional career

Post-basketball career

See also

References

External links