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Gerald Henderson facts for kids

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For his son and former basketball player, see Gerald Henderson Jr.
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Gerald Henderson
Gerald Henderson Celtics.jpg
Henderson in 1983
Personal information
Born (1956-01-16) January 16, 1956 (age 68)
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
High school Huguenot (Richmond, Virginia)
Listed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight 175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
College VCU (1974–1978)
NBA Draft 1978 / Round: 3 / Pick: 64th overall
Selected by the San Antonio Spurs
Pro career 1978–1992
Career history
1978–1979 Tucson Gunners
1979–1984 Boston Celtics
1984–1986 Seattle SuperSonics
1986–1987 New York Knicks
1987–1989 Philadelphia 76ers
1989 Milwaukee Bucks
1989–1991 Detroit Pistons
1991–1992 Houston Rockets
1992 Detroit Pistons
Career highlights and awards
  • 3× NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1990)
  • No. 22 jersey retired by VCU Rams
Career NBA statistics
Points 7,773 (8.9 ppg)
Rebounds 1,453 (1.7 rpg)
Assists 3,141 (3.6 apg)

Jerome McKinley "Gerald" Henderson Sr. (born January 16, 1956) is an American retired basketball player. He was a combo guard who had a 13-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1979 until 1992. He played for the Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons, and Houston Rockets. Henderson was born in Richmond, Virginia and attended Virginia Commonwealth University.

Henderson is best known for his steal of a James Worthy pass to score a game-tying layup in Game 2 of the 1984 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics eventually prevailed in overtime. In a post-game interview, Henderson said that "For a minute I could hear Johnny Most going, 'Henderson steals the ball!'", in reference to Most's famous call of John Havlicek's steal in the 1965 Eastern Conference finals. Most's actual words were "It goes quickly in now to Magic, back over to Worthy, and it's picked off! Goes to Henderson, he lays it up and in! It's all tied up! A great play by Henderson!"

In the fall of 1984, Henderson was traded to Seattle for the Sonics' first-round pick in 1986, which the Celtics would use to draft Len Bias. He then played for the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Milwaukee Bucks in a three-year span before joining the Detroit Pistons before the 1989–90 season. In Game 4 of that year's NBA Finals, with the Pistons holding a one-point lead over the Trail Blazers, Henderson made a fast-break layup with just over a second to play to push the lead to three points instead of dribbling out the clock. The decision nearly backfired when Portland's Danny Young appeared to make a game-tying desperation three-pointer, but the officials correctly ruled that Young's shot was released just after the buzzer. The Pistons took a 3–1 series lead and won the next game to give Henderson his third NBA championship.

As of 2006, he and his wife run a real estate business in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Their son, Gerald Henderson Jr. was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association in the 2009 NBA draft. Gerald Jr. played eight NBA seasons for the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Philadelphia 76ers.

In 2012, Henderson was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1979–80 Boston 76 2 14.0 .500 .333 .690 1.1 1.9 0.6 0.2 6.2
1980–81† Boston 82 10 19.6 .451 .063 .720 1.6 2.6 1.0 0.1 7.8
1981–82 Boston 82 31 22.5 .501 .167 .727 1.9 3.1 1.0 0.1 10.2
1982–83 Boston 82 9 18.9 .463 .188 .722 1.5 2.4 1.2 0.0 8.2
1983–84† Boston 78 78 26.8 .524 .351 .768 1.9 3.8 1.5 0.2 11.6
1984–85 Seattle 79 78 33.5 .479 .237 .780 2.4 7.1 1.8 0.1 13.4
1985–86 Seattle 82 82 31.3 .482 .346 .830 2.3 5.9 1.7 0.1 13.1
1986–87 Seattle 6 6 25.8 .500 .000 .944 1.5 5.3 1.0 0.0 11.2
1986–87 New York 68 53 27.8 .438 .257 .816 2.4 6.5 1.4 0.2 10.9
1987–88 New York 6 2 11.5 .357 .500 1.000 1.7 2.2 0.3 0.0 2.3
1987–88 Philadelphia 69 3 20.8 .431 .421 .810 1.4 3.2 1.0 0.1 8.4
1988–89 Philadelphia 65 0 15.2 .414 .308 .819 1.0 2.2 0.6 0.0 6.5
1989–90 Milwaukee 11 0 11.7 .423 .429 1.000 1.1 1.2 0.7 0.0 2.5
1989–90† Detroit 46 0 7.3 .506 .452 .769 0.7 1.3 0.2 0.0 2.3
1990–91 Detroit 23 10 17.0 .427 .333 .762 1.6 2.7 0.5 0.1 5.3
1991–92 Houston 8 0 4.3 .364 .000 .667 0.3 0.6 0.0 0.0 1.5
1991–92 Detroit 8 0 7.8 .381 .600 1.000 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.0 3.0
Career 871 364 21.6 .472 .332 .776 1.7 3.6 1.1 0.1 8.9

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1979–80 Boston 9 – 11.2 .405 .000 .600 1.1 1.3 0.4 0.0 4.7
1980–81† Boston 16 – 14.3 .477 .000 .833 1.6 1.6 0.6 0.2 5.8
1981–82 Boston 12 – 25.8 .409 .000 .686 2.1 4.0 1.2 0.2 8.3
1982–83 Boston 7 – 26.7 .412 .000 .857 2.0 4.4 1.6 0.1 10.9
1983–84† Boston 23* – 26.8 .485 .273 .720 2.3 4.2 1.5 0.0 12.5
1988–89 Philadelphia 3 0 23.0 .400 .286 .333 2.3 1.7 0.7 0.0 8.0
1989–90† Detroit 8 0 2.4 .200 .000 .000 0.4 0.5 0.3 0.0 0.3
1990–91 Detroit 10 1 4.0 .250 .000 .000 0.1 0.6 0.1 0.0 0.8
Career 88 1 17.8 .443 .156 .697 1.6 2.6 0.9 0.1 7.2

See also

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