Murray Joseph Mendenhall Jr. (October 22, 1925 – February 7, 2014) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach from Fort Wayne, Indiana. He graduated from Fort Wayne's Central High School in 1944 and enrolled at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

playing one season, where he helped the Owls win the 1945

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 an ...

championship; after a two-year stint in the United States Navy, he enrolled at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, completing his collegiate eligibility. He was then re-united with his father

Murray Mendenhall Murray Joseph Mendenhall (March 5, 1898 – July 27, 1972) was an American basketball 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 ...

, playing one season with the Anderson Packers of the National Basketball League. After his playing career ended, he went on to coach at five different high schools and served as athletic director at

Indiana Tech Indiana Institute of Technology (Indiana Tech) is a private university in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was founded in 1930 as Indiana Technical College by John A. Kalbfleisch, who was also the school's first president. The university today is organi ...

. In 1996, Mendenhall Jr was inducted into the

Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is a sports museum and hall of fame in New Castle, Indiana. While it honors men and women associated with high school, college, and professional basketball in Indiana, an emphasis is placed on the athlete's high ...

Personal life

He was the son of

, a well-known coach in Indiana. Murray Mendenhall Sr was 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'' ...

which lasted from 1949 to 1951, and he was also inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Mendenhall Jr died at the age of 88 in February 2014. He was survived by his wife, Miriam, of 63 years and their three children.

References

External links

Mendenhall
at basketballreference.com
Mendenhall's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendenhall, Murray Jr. 1925 births 2014 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American military sports players Anderson Packers players Basketball players from Fort Wayne, Indiana Guards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in the United States Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Military personnel from Indiana Rice Owls men's basketball players Sportspeople from Fort Wayne, Indiana United States Navy sailors