Hank Beenders

Who was Hank Beenders?

Henry G. "Hank" Beenders was a Dutch-American 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 NBA and the first to reach the NBA finals. Beenders played for the Providence Steamrollers in 1947 and 1948, the Philadelphia Warriors in 1948, and for the Boston Celtics in 1949. In 1949 the year he left basketball, the BAA became the NBA after adding several teams from the rival National Basketball League. Beenders averaged 12.3 points in his rookie season with Providence, which was 13th best in the league that season.

Beenders was also a war veteran. He had started his professional basketball career after the war. After ending his basketball career, he become 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.