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 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in

Sao Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

. 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 , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

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 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 Duke University School of Law (Duke Law School or Duke Law) is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit th ...

in 1992 where she obtained a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1995. Shortly after graduating from Duke, Henning starting working as an attorney specializing in

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and

employment law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

for the

Littler Mendelson Littler Mendelson P.C. is a U.S.-based law firm that handles labor and employment litigation as well as global mobility and immigration issues. The firm has competencies in Mexico, Canada, Germany and Venezuela. The firm has offices in Colombia ...

law firm in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Resuming professional basketball

In 1996, the 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 The San Jose Lasers were a women's professional basketball team in San Jose, California. It was a member of the American Basketball League. Their home games were primarily held at the San Jose State Event Center with an occasional game being p ...

, a team which also featured former Stanford players

Jennifer Azzi Jennifer Lynn Azzi (born August 31, 1968) is a former basketball coach, most recently the head coach of the women's team at the University of San Francisco. Azzi is also a former collegiate and professional basketball player, as well as an Olympic ...

, Anita Kaplan, and Val Whiting. She played for the Lasers for two seasons, then joined the Portland Power until financial difficulties led to the ABL's demise in 1998. Henning joined the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) after being selected in the second round (24th overall pick) by the

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

during its 1999 WNBA Draft and helped the Comets to its third straight

WNBA championship The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

season. During that same year, she also served as the president of the WNBA Players Union. In 2000, the WNBA held an

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion ...

for current players to join newly formed teams. Henning was selected by the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

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 In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, and signed a contract with the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded pri ...

on May 5, 2003, but was waived by the team three weeks later. In June 2003, Henning signed a contract with the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

and played for them during that season. Henning served as president of the

Women's National Basketball Players Association The Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) is the players' union for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). It formed in 1998 and was the first trade union for professional women athletes. History The Women's Nati ...

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 The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

company that sells women's sporting apparel, Henning joined the law firm

Tonkon Torp Tonkon Torp LLP is an American law firm based in Portland, Oregon, Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1974, the limited liability partnership has 78 attorneys. As of 2010, it was the third largest law firm in Portland when it had ...

LLP, in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. 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 The Urban League of Portland is a service, civil rights, and advocacy organization for African Americans in the Pacific Northwest region. Today, the League is a non-profit, community-based organization committed to providing opportunities and suppo ...

. In May 2005, Henning was elected to a seat on the Portland School Board with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

^† , style="text-align:left;",

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, 32 , , 32 , , 24.9 , , .444 , , .317 , , .611 , , 2.5 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 0.2 , , 0.9 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, 32 , , 32 , , 30.6 , , .351 , , .379 , , .607 , , 2.7 , , 2.5 , , 1.9 , , 0.1 , , 1.7 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 28 , , 28.2 , , .318 , , .182 , , .514 , , 2.2 , , 2.9 , , 1.6 , , 0.2 , , 1.3 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

* , style="text-align:left;",

, 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;",

, 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 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* , style="text-align:left;",

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, 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;",

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, 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;",

, 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;",

, 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