Thor Henry Anderson (December 5, 1920 – September 5, 2005) was a

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach and

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 ...

(AD). He was the head coach at

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the univ ...

for 21 seasons, from 1951 to 1972, where he compiled a record.Gonzaga Basketball History – Page 51 of 62
/ref> Anderson later coached two seasons at

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

in Bozeman at for a career record of . He finished his career in college athletics as the AD at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.

Early years

Born in Milton-Freewater in

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, Anderson graduated from Burns High School in

Burns Burns may refer to: * Burn, an injury (plural) People: * Burns (surname), includes list of people and characters Business: * Burns London, a British guitar maker Places: ;In the United States * Burns, Colorado, unincorporated community in Eagle ...

at age 16 in 1937, and then played college basketball for Eastern Oregon Normal School in La Grande. After two years, he transferred to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in Eugene, and was a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for the Ducks under head coach

Howard Hobson Howard Andrew "Hobby" Hobson (July 4, 1903 – June 9, 1991) was an American basketball player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head basketball coach at Southern Oregon Normal School—now Southern Oregon Univers ...

High school coach

Anderson earned his bachelor's degree in 1941 at age twenty, and was in graduate school in Eugene when he accepted his first head coaching job at Baker High School in eastern Oregon that October. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces in

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 returned to Baker in 1945, then moved to western Oregon at Medford in 1946 and

Grants Pass Grants Pass is the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5, northwest of Medford, Oregon, Medford, along the Rogue River (Oregon), Rogue River. The population was 39,189 ...

in 1947. His 1950 team was state runner-up and he had a career prep record of prior to taking the Gonzaga job in April 1951 at age thirty.

College coach and administrator

Gonzaga's previous head coach, L. T. Underwood, finished the 1951 season at and resigned after just two years with the Bulldogs. Anderson's first team was much improved in 1952 at , and after two seasons, he took on the added role of AD in 1953. The program elevated to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

in 1958, joined the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

as a charter member in 1963, and opened the on-campus Kennedy Pavilion in 1965. Anderson was Big Sky coach of the year in 1966, and stepped down as AD in 1972, then surprisingly left several weeks later to become head coach at

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

in Bozeman, a conference rival. He spent two seasons at MSU, then departed for another Big Sky school in 1974 to become the athletic director at

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...

in Flagstaff. Anderson oversaw the building of the

Walkup Skydome The J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome is an indoor multipurpose stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. It is primarily used as the home of the NAU Lumberjacks foot ...

and was also on the board of directors of the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pla ...

in Tempe; he stayed at NAU nearly a decade and retired at the end of 1983 at age 63.

Later life

Anderson then moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in 1984 to work in minor league baseball for the Las Vegas Stars. The team, formerly the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

from 1973 to 1982, was headed by Larry Koentopp, the former Gonzaga baseball coach hired by Anderson in 1969 and his successor as GU athletic director in 1972. Anderson and his wife Betty, married in 1943, later retired to

Gig Harbor, Washington Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington,. The population was 12,029 at the 2020 census. Gig Harbor is one of several cities and towns that claim to be "the gateway to the Olymp ...

. He died in September 2005 at age 84 of an aortic aneurysm in Gig Harbor.

College head coaching record

References

External links

Sports Reference
– coaching record – Hank Anderson
Gonzaga University Digital Collections
– Hank Anderson * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Hank 1920 births 2005 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Oregon Basketball players from Oregon College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Eastern Oregon Mountaineers men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Gonzaga Bulldogs athletic directors Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Oregon Montana State Bobcats men's basketball coaches Northern Arizona Lumberjacks athletic directors Oregon Ducks men's basketball players People from Gig Harbor, Washington People from Harney County, Oregon People from Milton-Freewater, Oregon United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Military personnel from Oregon