Sonja L. Henning (born October 4, 1969) is an American attorney and former collegiate and professional

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

player. Born in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...

, she grew up in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

, where she attended

Horlick High School William Horlick High School (also known as Horlick or Racine Horlick High School) is a comprehensive public four-year high school in Racine, Wisconsin with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students. The school opened to students in 1928, after ...

Stanford University

Henning played for Stanford and helped the team win the 1990 NCAA women's basketball championship. .She attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and played for its women's basketball team from 1987 to 1991. She helped the

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

win the 1990

NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...

game, defeating

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. The following year, Henning was named

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Player of the Year and a

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n in her senior season. An

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

major, Henning graduated from Stanford in 1991 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree. After graduation, there were few opportunities for women to play professional basketball in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the time, so Henning started her professional career playing in a women's professional basketball team in

Uppsala, Sweden Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

in 1992.

USA Basketball

Henning was a member of the USA Women's U18 and U19 teams, USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The event was known as the Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament at the time. The event was held in August 1988, when the USA team defeated the host team Brazil by a score of 70–68 to win the championship. Henning sank two free throws with under one second remaining in the game to win the final game and the gold medal. Henning represented the US at the World Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 1990. The team won all eight games, earning the gold medal. Henning scored 2.0 points per game. Henning again represented the USA at the 1990 Goodwill Games held in Seattle, WA during August 1990; the USA team won the gold medal. Henning also played with the USA team at the USA Women's Pan American Team, 1991 Pan American Games. The team finished with a record of 4–2, but managed to win the bronze medal. The USA team lost a three-point game to Brazil, then responded with wins over Argentina and Cuba, earning a spot in the medal round. The next game was a rematch against Cuba, and this time the team from Cuba won a five-point game. The USA beat Canada easily to win the bronze. Gordon averaged 3 points per game.

Duke University

After playing one season in Sweden, she enrolled in Duke University Law School in 1992 where she obtained a Juris Doctor in 1995. Shortly after graduating from Duke, Henning starting working as an attorney specializing in Labour law, labor and employment law for the Littler Mendelson law firm in Los Angeles, California.

Resuming professional basketball

In 1996, the American Basketball League 1996-98, American Basketball League (ABL) was formed, and Henning tried out for a playing spot on a team in the new league. Henning was eventually drafted by the San Jose Lasers, a team which also featured former Stanford players Jennifer Azzi, Anita Kaplan, and Val Whiting. She played for the Lasers for two seasons, then joined the Portland Power (basketball), Portland Power until financial difficulties led to the ABL's demise in 1998. Henning joined the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) after being selected in the second round (24th overall pick) by the Houston Comets during its 1999 WNBA Draft and helped the Comets to its third straight WNBA Finals, WNBA championship season. During that same year, she also served as the president of the WNBA Players Union. In 2000, the WNBA held an expansion draft for current players to join newly formed teams. Henning was selected by the Seattle Storm and played with the team from 2000 to part of the 2002 season until she was traded back to the Comets. After the 2002 season ended, she became a free agent, and signed a contract with the Washington Mystics on May 5, 2003, but was waived by the team three weeks later. In June 2003, Henning signed a contract with the Indiana Fever and played for them during that season. Henning served as president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association from 2001 to 2003. She retired from the WNBA in 2004.

Life after basketball

After serving two years as general counsel for Lucy.com, a startup Internet company that sells women's sporting apparel, Henning joined the law firm Tonkon Torp LLP, in Portland, Oregon. She is currently an attorney specializing in labor and employment litigation matters. Henning was vice president of North American League Partnership for Nike. Henning currently serves on the board of directors for the Urban League of Portland. In May 2005, Henning was elected to a seat on the Portland Public Schools, Oregon, Portland School Board with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1999 WNBA season, 1999^† , style="text-align:left;", 1999 Houston Comets season, Houston , 32 , , 32 , , 24.9 , , .444 , , .317 , , .611 , , 2.5 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 0.2 , , 0.9 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2000 WNBA season, 2000 , style="text-align:left;", 2000 Seattle Storm season, Seattle , 32 , , 32 , , 30.6 , , .351 , , .379 , , .607 , , 2.7 , , 2.5 , , 1.9 , , 0.1 , , 1.7 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001 WNBA season, 2001 , style="text-align:left;", 2001 Seattle Storm season, Seattle , 32 , , 28 , , 28.2 , , .318 , , .182 , , .514 , , 2.2 , , 2.9 , , 1.6 , , 0.2 , , 1.3 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002 WNBA season, 2002* , style="text-align:left;", 2002 Seattle Storm season, Seattle , 8 , , 5 , , 25.9 , , .364 , , .000 , , .500 , , 3.3 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.9 , , 2.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002* , style="text-align:left;", 2002 Houston Comets season, Houston , 23 , , 10 , , 22.7 , , .346 , , .250 , , .455 , , 2.5 , , 2.2 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 1.6 , , 1.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002 , style="text-align:left;", Total , 31 , , 15 , , 23.5 , , .351 , , .188 , , .467 , , 2.7 , , 2.1 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 1.4 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003 WNBA season, 2003* , style="text-align:left;", 2003 Washington Mystics season, Washington , 1 , , 0 , , 5.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003* , style="text-align:left;", 2003 Indiana Fever season, Indiana , 23 , , 1 , , 12.6 , , .262 , , .000 , , .250 , , 1.1 , , 1.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 0.6 , , 1.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003 , style="text-align:left;", Total , 24 , , 1 , , 12.3 , , .256 , , .000 , , .250 , , 1.0 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 1.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 5 years, 4 teams , 151 , , 108 , , 24.5 , , .356 , , .278 , , .547 , , 2.3 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , 0.2 , , 1.2 , , 3.2

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", WNBA playoffs#1999 season, 1999^† , style="text-align:left;", 1999 Houston Comets season, Houston , 6 , , 6 , , 22.7 , , .348 , , .111 , , .333 , , 3.0 , , 1.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.2 , , 1.2 , , 3.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", WNBA playoffs#2002 season, 2002 , style="text-align:left;", 2002 Houston Comets season, Houston , 3 , , 3 , , 16.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.3 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.7 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 2 years, 1 team , 9 , , 9 , , 20.4 , , .250 , , .091 , , .333 , , 2.4 , , 1.7 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 1.0 , , 2.1

References

External links

Tonkon Torp LLP biographyWNBA player profile
*[http://www.wnba.com/fever/news/feature_henning_030731.html 2003 Indiana Fever article] {{DEFAULTSORT:Henning, Sonja 1969 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Sweden American women lawyers American women's basketball players Basketball players at the 1991 Pan American Games Basketball players from Portland, Oregon California lawyers Duke University School of Law alumni Houston Comets players Indiana Fever players Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Oregon lawyers Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Point guards Portland Power players San Jose Lasers players School board members in Oregon Seattle Storm players Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon Sportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin Stanford Cardinal women's basketball players Women's National Basketball Association executives William Horlick High School alumni United States women's national basketball team players