Nationality Dutch / American Name Hank Beenders Education Long Island University Pro career 1945–1950 Weight 84 kg | Listed weight 185 lb (84 kg) Height 1.98 m Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Role Basketball Player Position Center | |
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Born July 2, 1916
Haarlem, Netherlands ( 1916-07-02 ) High school North Plainfield
(North Plainfield, New Jersey) College LIU Brooklyn (1939–1942) Died October 27, 2003, Somerville, New Jersey, United States | ||
Henry G. "Hank" Beenders (June 2, 1916 – October 27, 2003) was a Dutch-American professional basketball player.
Beenders was born on June 2, 1916 in Haarlem, Netherlands, and migrated to the U.S. at age eight. He lived in Brooklyn, New York and Scotch Plains, New Jersey, moving to Bridgewater Township, New Jersey in the late 1960s. He attended North Plainfield High School in North Plainfield, New Jersey.
He played the center position on the 1941 NIT champion Long Island University team, and was team captain during the 1941–42 season under Hall of Fame coach Clair Bee. He became one of the first international basketball players in the Basketball Association of America, which would later become the National Basketball Association, and was the first to reach the BAA Finals. Beenders averaged 12.3 points in his rookie season with Providence, which was 13th best in the league that season. He played for Providence the following season until he was sold to the Philadelphia Warriors on January 15, 1948. On May 1, 1948, Beenders was traded to the Boston Celtics with Chick Halbert for Ed Sadowski.
Beenders was also a war veteran (He served with the Army Air Corps during World War II). He had started his professional basketball career after the war. After ending his basketball career, he became an international sales representative for a clothing exporting company in New York City for 35 years. He was 87 when he died at the Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, New Jersey.