R. E. "Bill" Henderson (1901 – July 5, 1979) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach. He was the head basketball coach at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

from 1941 to 1943, and from 1945 to 1961. In his 18 seasons at Baylor, Henderson had a win–loss record of 201–233, and his teams made three NCAA tournament appearances. Prior to becoming a college head coach, Henderson coached the Temple High School boys' basketball team, which reached the 1928 state championship game. Although Henderson's Temple team lost to Austin High School in the title game, it was eventually awarded the championship because an ineligible player had been on Austin's roster. In Henderson's first two seasons in charge of Baylor, the team finished with records of 11–9 and 6–14. After his two-season break, he guided the team to a 25–5 record,

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

championship, and NCAA tournament berth in 1945–46. In the 1948 NCAA tournament, the Bears reached the title game, rallying from sizable deficits against

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and

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

along the way. Baylor faced

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

for the national championship, losing 58–42. It was the first time a Southwest Conference team had advanced to the championship game in an NCAA Tournament. Henderson's team reached the Final Four of the 1950 NCAA tournament, losing to

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

68–66. The Bears did not return to the NCAA Tournament during Henderson's coaching tenure. The 1950 Final Four team only finished one game above .500 overall, and after that season he only notched two more winning records overall. The Bears declined to 4–20 in his final season, 1960–61. After the season, he announced his resignation. Henderson's total of 201 wins was a Baylor men's basketball record until current coach

Scott Drew Scott Homer Drew (born October 23, 1970) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Baylor Bears, a position he has held since 2003. Drew began his coaching career as an assistant for Valparaiso under his father Hom ...

passed him in 2014. His 233 losses remains a school record. Henderson has been noted for barring his players from smoking, drinking, and swearing, and for what author Allan Zullo called his "nervous habit of tying and untying his shoes at critical points in a game so he wouldn't have to watch a play unfold." From 1968 to 1971, Henderson served as Baylor's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

. The

Texas Sports Hall of Fame The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recognizes athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made "lasting fame and honor to Texas sports". It was established in 1951 by the Texas Sports Writers Association. Once it made its first induction (baseball ...

inducted him in 1976. On July 5, 1979, Henderson died at the age of 78.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Bill 1901 births 1979 deaths American men's basketball coaches Baylor Bears athletic directors Baylor Bears men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States

Head coaching record

See also

References