Louis Ray Henson (January 10, 1932 – July 25, 2020) was an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He retired as the all-time leader in victories at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

with 423 victories and

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

with 289 victories. Overall, Henson won 779 games putting him in sixteenth place on the all-time list. Henson was also one of only four NCAA coaches to have amassed at least 200 total wins at two institutions. On February 17, 2015, Henson was selected as a member of the

National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the National ...

. In August 2015, prior to the reopening of the newly renovated State Farm Center at the

, the hardwood floor was dedicated and renamed Lou Henson Court in his honor. The court at the Pan American Center at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

is also named in his honor.

Early life and education

Born in

Okay, Oklahoma Okay is a town along the east bank of the Verdigris River in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 620 at the 2010 census, a 3.9 percent increase over the figure of 597 recorded in 2000. Etymology and history Okay's histor ...

, Henson graduated from Okay High School in 1951 and matriculated at Connors Junior College before transferring to New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (New Mexico A&M, now

). He lettered in basketball for the New Mexico A&M Aggies from 1953 to 1955 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1955 and master's degree in 1956.

Career

Henson began his coaching career at Las Cruces High School in

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern Ne ...

in 1956. After two years as junior varsity coach, Henson was head coach of the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

from 1958 to 1962 and won state championships in 1959, 1960, and 1961. He started coaching in the college ranks in 1962 at Hardin-Simmons University. As a condition of taking the Hardin-Simmons job, Henson insisted that the team (and thus the school) be racially integrated, a condition to which the university agreed. In 1966, he took over at his alma mater,

. In his first season at NMSU, the Aggies rebounded from a 4–22 record in the prior season to finish 15–11 and went to the NCAA tournament. In 1970, Henson would help lead the Aggies to the Final Four for the only time in the school's history. Henson and future NBA players

Jimmy Collins James Joseph Collins (January 16, 1870 – March 6, 1943) was an American professional baseball player. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. Collins was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Collins was especially regarded fo ...

Sam Lacey Samuel Lacey (March 28, 1948 – March 14, 2014) was an American basketball player. He spent the majority of his career with the Royals/Kings franchise. Lacey was selected as an all-star while playing for the Kings in 1975, and eventually had hi ...

, and Charlie Criss lost in the tournament semifinal to eventual champion

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, the third time in three years the Aggies lost to UCLA in the tournament. Henson coached at New Mexico State for nine seasons, with six trips to the NCAA Tournament and four twenty-win seasons. In 1975, Henson moved to the

to replace

Gene Bartow Bobby Gene Bartow (August 18, 1930 January 3, 2012) was an American men's college basketball coach. The Browning, Missouri, native coached 36 years at six universities after coaching two high schools in Missouri for six years. In 1972 Bartow coac ...

, after Bartow left Illinois to replace John Wooden at UCLA. In 21 years at Illinois, Henson garnered 423 wins and 224 losses (.654 winning percentage), and with a record of 214 wins and 164 losses (.567) in

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

games. The 214 wins in Big Ten games were the third highest total ever at the time of his retirement. His best

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

team was the 1988-89 unit, which won a then-school record 31 games and went to the Final Four. At Illinois, Henson coached many future NBA players, including Eddie Johnson,

Derek Harper Derek Ricardo Harper (born October 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. A second-team All-American at the University of Illinois, he was the 11th overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft and spent 16 seasons as a point guar ...

, Ken Norman, Nick Anderson,

Kendall Gill Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball analyst. Early life Gill was born in Chicago and attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinoi ...

, Kenny Battle,

Marcus Liberty Marcus Liberty (born October 27, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player. He played four seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Liberty played college basketball for the University of Illinois. High school After ...

, Steve Bardo, and Kiwane Garris, and was known for his trademark Lou-Do. Henson retired from Illinois at the end of the 1996-1997 season. In 1997, Henson returned to New Mexico State as interim head coach after Neil McCarthy was abruptly fired before the start of the season. Henson wanted to donate his time, but was told that state law didn't allow him to coach for free. He finally accepted a nominal salary of $1 per month. After a successful season, he was given his old job back on a permanent basis. His 1998–99 team won the Big West regular season and tournament titles—notably, the first time in Henson's career that he had won a conference tournament. He retired for good midway through the 2004–05 season due to

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of hematological malignancy, blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever ...

. His second stint allowed him to regain his standing as New Mexico State's all-time winningest coach, passing McCarthy.

Health problems

In July 2007, Henson announced that he was again undergoing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

for the same strain of lymphoma that he had battled four years previously. He was undergoing treatment in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...

, where he lived in the summer. In July 2015, Henson once again entered chemotherapy for "bone marrow problems." Henson "returned to coaching" at age 82 as coach of the

New Mexico House of Representatives ) is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , ...

team in a charity contest versus the

New Mexico State Senate The New Mexico Senate ( es, Senado de Nuevo México) is the upper house of the New Mexico State Legislature. The Senate consists of 42 members, with each senator representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the state ...

team on February 7, 2014. Henson died on July 25, 2020 at the age of 88.

Head coaching record

^‡ New Mexico State ineligible for conference championship
^* Record vacated due to NCAA infractions
^† Henson resigned on January 22, 2005 and was replaced that day by interim head coach Tony Stubblefield; their collective record in the 2004–05 season was 6–24 (1–14 Sun Belt) for a sixth-place finish in the Sun Belt West division.

References

External links