Murray Joseph Mendenhall (March 5, 1898 – July 27, 1972)
A Biographical Directory of Professional Basketball Coaches
/ref> 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. Murray began coaching at the high school level, at New Castle in 1923, before moving to Ft. Wayne Central the following year, coaching the Tigers to the state championship in 1943. He also coached in the 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 St ...
(NBA) from 1949 to 1951 as the first coach of the Fort Wayne Pistons
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, and has been inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Prior to coaching the Pistons, he coached the now-defunct Anderson Packers
The Anderson Packers, also known as the Anderson Duffey Packers and the Chief Anderson Meat Packers, were a professional basketball team based in Anderson, Indiana, in the 1940s and 1950s.
The team was founded and owned by brothers Ike W. and Jo ...
of the National Basketball League.
His son, Murray Jr. played for him on the 1943 championship team, before being inducted into the United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. Both Murray, Jr. and his son, Murray Mendenhall, III, coached high school basketball in Indiana.
External links
BasketballReference.com: Murray Mendenhall
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1898 births
1972 deaths
American men's basketball players
Anderson Packers coaches
Basketball coaches from Indiana
Basketball players from Indiana
DePauw Tigers football players
DePauw Tigers men's basketball players
Fort Wayne Pistons head coaches
High school basketball coaches in the United States
Players of American football from Indiana
People from Hendricks County, Indiana
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