Ernest Maurice Vandeweghe Jr. (September 12, 1928 – November 8, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. He was best known for playing for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

of the NBA and for the athletic successes of his family. He and his wife

Colleen Kay Hutchins Colleen Kay Hutchins (May 23, 1926 – March 24, 2010) was Miss America 1952. Early life Hutchins was a native of Arcadia, California. Her brother, Mel Hutchins, later became a basketball player for the Milwaukee Hawks, Fort Wayne Pistons, and N ...

(

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

for 1952)Miss America: 1952
were the parents of former NBA All-Star Kiki VanDeWeghe and Olympic swimmer Tauna Vandeweghe, and grandparents of tennis professional

Coco Vandeweghe Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...

. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Vandeweghe moved to

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

as a teenager and played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

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 ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

for Oceanside High School where he was also a member of the Omega Gamma Delta fraternity. A 6'3" guard, Vandeweghe played collegiately for the Colgate University Raiders, where he was an All-American. He was drafted by the Knicks in the 1949 BAA Draft, and played in the NBA for six seasons. After retiring from the NBA in 1956, Vandeweghe served as a physician for the Air Force while stationed overseas in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. Besides Kiki, he had three other children who were successful athletes: daughter Tauna won a U.S. national swimming championship in the

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...

(and competed in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

), son Bruk medalled in beach volleyball in the 1994

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

, and daughter Heather was captain of the U.S. national women's polo team and followed in her father's footsteps through medical school to become a physician. Vandeweghe served as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and served on the Olympic Sports Commission under President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

, where he assisted with the development of two key pieces of sports legislation –

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

and the 1976 Amateur Athletic Act. He was also a senior vice president with Focus Partners LLC, a

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 * '' ...

-based financial services firm, and a consultant with the United States Golf and Fitness Association. He occasionally provided commentary for several sports publications. Vandeweghe died at the age of 86 on November 8, 2014.

References

External links

Statistics
@ basketball-reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Vandeweghe, Ernie 1928 births 2014 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Anglophone Quebec people Basketball players from Montreal Basketball players from New York (state) Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Colgate Raiders men's basketball players Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni National Basketball Association players from Canada New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players People from Oceanside, New York Shooting guards Small forwards Vandeweghe family

See also

References

External links