Kendal Pinder
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Kendal Nathaniel "Tiny" Pinder (born 25 April 1956) is a Bahamian former professional
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. He moved to the United States as a teenager and attended Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Florida. Pinder played
college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
for the
East Tennessee State Buccaneers The East Tennessee State Buccaneers are the 17 intercollegiate athletics teams that represent East Tennessee State University (ETSU), located in Johnson City, Tennessee. ETSU's teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, socce ...
, Miami Dade Sharks and
NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subd ...
. He started his professional career with stints in Israel and Finland; he also spent three seasons with the
Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...
. Pinder moved to Australia in 1985 to play in the National Basketball League (NBL) with the
Sydney Supersonics The Sydney Supersonics are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). The team joined the NBL in 1979 as the City of Sydney Astronauts, becoming the Sydney Supersonics in 1982 as a result of a merge ...
and was selected to the
All-NBL Team The All-NBL Team is an annual National Basketball League (NBL) honour bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBL season. The team has been selected in every season since the league's second year in 1980. The All-NBL Team h ...
when he led the league in scoring during his first season. He joined the
Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...
in 1987 and won two NBL championships with the team in 1990 and 1991. Pinder's career was interrupted in 1992 when he was imprisoned for sexual assault offences. He was released in 1995 and had his final basketball stint with the Illawarra Hawks that same year. Pinder has since spent periods in prison for various offences. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 1996 for sexual assault charges involving a teenager. Pinder was imprisoned in 2021 for 15 months after being convicted of stalking a woman. In 2024, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for two sexual assaults that occurred in 2009 and 2021.


Early life

Pinder was born in
The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...
where he was raised in Nassau and Freeport. He was nicknamed "Tiny" by his grandmother because he was small when he was young. He was a victim of violence as a child. Pinder fell through a plate glass window at the age of 12 and suffered head injuries that were potentially linked to longstanding cognitive issues. He started playing basketball as a teenager. Pinder attended Hawksbill High School in Freeport from 1968 to 1972. He was enrolled under the name "Nathaniel Forbes" using his father's surname. Pinder did not attend school for one year. Pinder moved to
Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, to earn a
college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
scholarship. He changed his name to "Kendal Pinder" upon his arrival for unexplained reasons. Pinder enrolled at Miami Northwestern Senior High School in 1973 but was declared ineligible to play on the basketball team during his first season because his family did not accompany him during his move. He became eligible for the 1974–75 season where he was a junior in class standing but a senior in eligibility because of the year he missed in the Bahamas. Pinder averaged 19 points per game and led Northwestern to a 25–5 record on their way to a Greater Miami Athletic Conference championship. A 1976 investigation by ''
The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...
'' concluded that Pinder was likely ineligible to play during the 1974–75 season. Northwestern received records from Hawksbill that were "grossly incomplete and, perhaps, inaccurate." Pinder claimed that he was in tenth grade at Hawksbill during the 1971–72 school year which meant that his Northwestern eligibility expired after the 1973–74 school year; a student became ineligible for athletics in Florida four years from the time he first entered ninth grade.


College career

On 29 April 1975, Pinder signed to play
college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
for the
East Tennessee State Buccaneers The East Tennessee State Buccaneers are the 17 intercollegiate athletics teams that represent East Tennessee State University (ETSU), located in Johnson City, Tennessee. ETSU's teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, socce ...
. He played one season with the team and then departed because he was not happy with the coach. Pinder chose to transfer to
Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (MDC) is a public university, public college located in Miami, Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1959, MDC operates eight campuses and numerous outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade Count ...
because he would have been required to sit out a year if he joined another four-year school. He averaged 18.6 points and 12 rebounds per game during the 1976–77 season at Miami Dade. On April 29, 1977, Pinder signed to join the
NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subd ...
. He averaged 11.2 points per game from 1977 to 1979.


Professional career

Pinder was selected in the fifth round of the 1979 NBA draft by the
Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...
. For the 1979–80 season, Pinder played in Israel for Hapoel Jerusalem. He was the
Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...
's top scorer, with a total of 586 points scored. Between 1980 and 1983, Pinder performed with the
Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...
. For the 1984–85 season, Pinder played in Finland for Turun NMKY. His 32.8 points per game was second in the
Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...
, while his 14.8 rebounds per game led the league. Pinder followed his Turun head coach, Paul Coughter, to the
Sydney Supersonics The Sydney Supersonics are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). The team joined the NBL in 1979 as the City of Sydney Astronauts, becoming the Sydney Supersonics in 1982 as a result of a merge ...
of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) in 1985. He was named to the
All-NBL Team The All-NBL Team is an annual National Basketball League (NBL) honour bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBL season. The team has been selected in every season since the league's second year in 1980. The All-NBL Team h ...
and led the league in scoring during his first season. In 1987, Pinder joined the
Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...
. He was named the Wildcats' Club MVP in 1989 and helped the Wildcats win back-to-back NBL championships in 1990 and 1991. His final season with the Wildcats came in 1992. He was named in the Wildcats' 30th Anniversary All-Star Team. In 1995, Pinder had a five-game stint with the Illawarra Hawks, which marked his final NBL season.


Personal life

Pinder has 12 children. His son, Keanu, is also a professional basketball player. Pinder has
cognitive impairment Cognitive impairment is an inclusive term to describe any characteristic that acts as a barrier to the cognition process or different areas of cognition. Cognition, also known as cognitive function, refers to the mental processes of how a person ...
in the
frontal lobe The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a Sulcus (neur ...
and possesses the cognitive level of a 14-year-old. Pinder was granted Australian citizenship in 1986; however his citizenship was revoked in 2007. Following the cancellation of his Australian citizenship, Pinder was on an ex-citizen visa that enabled him to remain in Australia but did not allow him to return should he leave. The
Department of Immigration and Border Protection The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) was a department of the Government of Australia that was responsible for immigration, citizenship and border control (including visa issuance). It has now been subsumed into the Depar ...
cancelled his visa in 2017, but it was overturned in 2019 by the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was an Australian tribunal that conducted independent merits review of administrative decisions made under Commonwealth laws of the Australian Government. The AAT reviewed decisions made by Australian G ...
despite acknowledgment that Pinder did not pass the character test. Pinder's visa was again cancelled in 2024.


Sexual assault offences and imprisonment

In 1976, Pinder was found guilty of unlawful carnal knowledge of a teenage girl in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. He was given five years probation. In 1992, Pinder faced charges of attempted sexual assault. He was convicted by the Western Australian Supreme Court and was sentenced to 18 months' jail. In the following year he was also found guilty of raping a 23-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl; the three offences had occurred between 1988 and 1990. He was released from prison in 1995. In 1996, he was sentenced to five years' jail for sexual offences involving a 15-year-old girl. In 2001, Pinder was acquitted in the New South Wales District Court on a charge of raping a 19-year-old woman the previous year. In 2013, he was arrested on a charge relating to an alleged rape in 1987 but was cleared in August 2016. In 2021, Pinder was arrested and charged with stalking a woman in Sydney. He was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment. In April 2023, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault that occurred in November 2009 and March 2021. In March 2024, he was sentenced to eight years' prison for the two assaults; the backdated sentence took into account his time in custody and could see him released as early as October 2026. The judge noted Pinder's impaired cognitive function in deciding his sentence, which had a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment. Pinder was assaulted in prison in 2021 and 2023, requiring him to undergo CT and MRI scans for his injuries.


References


External links


NBL profileandthefoul.net profileFinnish League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinder, Kendal (Tiny) 1956 births Living people Atlanta Hawks draft picks Bahamian criminals Bahamian expatriate basketball people in the United States Bahamian men's basketball players Bahamian people imprisoned abroad Centers (basketball) East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball players Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players Harlem Globetrotters players Illawarra Hawks players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Miami Dade Sharks men's basketball players NC State Wolfpack men's basketball players People acquitted of rape People convicted of sexual assault Perth Wildcats players Power forwards Prisoners and detainees of Western Australia Sportspeople convicted of crimes