Henry G. "Dutch" Dehnert (April 5, 1898 – April 20, 1979) was an American
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
player whose career lasted from 1915 to 1935.
Dehnert, a bulky forward born in
New York City, New York
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...
, is mostly known for his time with the
Original Celtics
The Original Celtics were a barnstorming professional American basketball team. At various times in their existence, the team played in the American Basketball League, the Eastern Basketball League and the Metropolitan Basketball League. The te ...
and is sometimes credited with inventing the pivot play, which eventually led to the
3 second violation rule. He later coached several teams in the
NBL,
ABL,
BAA, and
PBLA.
In the early days of the sport, there was a "running guard" who brought the ball up the court and passed or attacked the basket, like a point or
combo guard
A combo guard is a basketball player who combines the attributes of a point guard (1) and shooting guard (2), but does not necessarily fit the standard description of either position. In men's basketball, such guards are usually within the 6' 3" ...
. There was also a "stationary guard" who made long shots and hung back on defense effectively
cherry-picking
Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data th ...
before there was the rule of backcourt violations.
The pivot play was invented by Dehnert when during set plays, he kept running into the opposing team's stationary guard.
One of those teams Dehnert coached was the
Sheboygan Red Skins
The Sheboygan Red Skins (or Redskins) were a professional basketball team based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which was an original National Basketball Association franchise during the 1949–50 NBA season, 1949–50 season.
History
Overview
The Re ...
, who won NBL divisional titles in 1944–45 and 1945–46 under Dehnert's guidance. Dehnert's greatest coup during his time in Sheboygan was his signing of three East Coast stars:
Al Lucas of Fordham,
Al Moschetti of St. John's and Bobby Holm of Seton Hall. Buoyed by this added strength, the Red Skins took a 2–0 lead over the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in the 1945 NBL championship series, only to be swept in the remaining three games. In 1946, Dehnert led Sheboygan to a meeting with the vaunted Rochester Royals in the championship series. Rochester swept the Red Skins. The next season, Dehnert became first head coach of the
Cleveland Rebels
The Cleveland Rebels were a basketball team in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), a forerunner of the modern National Basketball Association (NBA), based in Cleveland.
Franchise history
The Rebels were an inaugural franchise in the BAA ...
for the
Basketball Association of America
The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball Lea ...
's first season. He coached
Ken Sailors
Kenneth Lloyd Sailors (January 14, 1921 – January 30, 2016) was an American professional basketball player and played basketball in the 1940s and early 1950s. A guard, he is regarded as being one of the players who developed the jump shot as ...
who pioneered the
jump shot. In late 1947, he coached the Chattanooga Majors of the short-lived
Professional Basketball League of America.
He was the uncle of
Providence Steamrollers
The Providence Steamrollers were a Basketball Association of America team based in Providence, Rhode Island. As of 2025, the Steamrollers were the last professional sports franchise from one of the Big Four leagues to be based in Rhode Island.
...
player
Red Dehnert.
Head coaching record
NBA
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Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
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Source
References
Further reading
*
External links
Basketball Hall of Fame profileDutch Dehnert at Pro Basketball Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehnert, Dutch
1898 births
1979 deaths
American men's basketball coaches
Basketball players from New York City
Cleveland Rebels coaches
Cleveland Rosenblums players
Detroit Eagles coaches
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
Original Celtics players
Sheboygan Red Skins coaches
Basketball coaches from New York (state)
American men's basketball players
Centers (basketball)
Forwards (basketball)
Toledo Red Man Tobaccos players
Professional Basketball League of America coaches