Basketball star inducted into IU Hall of Fame

As he walked into the room, ducking his 6-foot-9 frame under the door with his 19-month-old son Jacob in his arms and his wife Maxine trailing behind him, 35-year-old Alan Henderson knew he was the big man on campus, just as he was 13 years ago when he played for IU.

A former IU men’s basketball player with 12 years of NBA experience, Henderson was inducted into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday night.

Henderson, the son of a physician, began playing basketball as a team sport when he was 7 years old. He hails from Morgantown, W.V. – though he graduated from Brebeuf Jesuit in Indianapolis – and said he came to IU because of its rich basketball history and then-coach Bob Knight.

“At the time, they had a really good team,” Henderson said. “It was just a really comfortable fit. It was close to home, and I just thought we’d be really successful.”
In his time at IU, Henderson had three 40-point games, a feat that places him in the top five all-time at IU in that category, said Bob Hammel, a former Herald-Times reporter who was also inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday. However, his best memory from his time at IU has little to do with scoring.

“I’d say the highlight (of my career) was in my freshman year when we advanced to the Final Four by beating UCLA, a team that had beaten us earlier in the year by 18 or 20 points,” said the Hoosiers’ 1995 team MVP. “They beat us in the first game of the year, so coming back to beat them in the Elite Eight to advance to the Final Four, that was a big victory for us.”

Henderson also broke a variety of records during his time at IU, placing him in the record books in many different categories.

“When I graduated,” he said, “I had the career record for blocks, I had the career record for rebounds, and I was in the top five for scoring, steals and assists.”

In February 1993, Henderson suffered a crushing knee injury just before the NCAA Tournament. Prior to his injury, the Hoosiers were widely regarded as a championship contender.

“We were No. 1 in the country. We were by far the best team in the country at that time in that season,” Henderson said. “It was just unfortunate. I tore my ACL in practice and I wasn’t able to play the way I needed to play for us.

“Many Indiana fans remember that team and remember that injury. It’s kind of one of those things where every time I see a fan they’ll say, ‘Oh, if you hadn’t gotten hurt that year we would have won the championship.’ Of course, I don’t know how things would have turned out, but I know we would have had a great shot at it.”

Henderson then went on to become the 16th overall draft pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, selected by the Atlanta Hawks. Henderson said his early years in Atlanta were some of his best experiences in the NBA.

In his first season, the Hawks, coached by Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, went 46-36 and advanced to the playoffs, making it as far as the Eastern Conference semi-finals before losing to the Orlando Magic in a five-game series.

“My first season in Atlanta, we had a real good team,” Henderson said. “I’d say the first four years in Atlanta were a good time.”

In following seasons, Henderson played alongside Dikembe Mutombo, a well-known center. He also went on to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers.

In 2004, Henderson married his wife Maxine, the two now proud parents of 19-month-old Jacob.

As for basketball, Henderson retired in 2007 after his final year with the 76ers. Over his 652-game NBA career, he averaged 7.8 points, five rebounds per game and 0.5 blocked shots per game.

In his return to IU for induction into the Hall of Fame, Henderson made his presence known once again – it’s hard not to, being the biggest man in a room of 300 people.

And with his induction, there will always be a spot in the hearts of IU fans for Henderson, who is now ingrained forever in the history of IU athletics, as are the other members of the Class of 2008 Hall of Fame inductees.