Derwin F. "Tank" Collins (born January 28, 1969) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played for Presto Ice Cream in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

but is best known for his

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

and college careers in the United States.

Early life and high school

A native of

Pomona, California Pomona ( ) is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was ...

, Collins was not athletic as a child and gave up playing sports. When he was in seventh grade, Collins' father suddenly died. His mother forced him to play basketball to distract him from the death during the summer between his seventh and eighth grade years and would even play Tank herself. She would beat him in one-on-one until he became too good, at which point his older brothers began playing physically with Tank. This laid the foundation for his aggressive style which would come to benefit him later. By the time he got to high school, Collins was utilizing his , stature to dominate his opponents. He earned the nickname "Tank" from his physique and physicality. One coach said, "He's like a 500-pound gorilla. He can do anything he wants." Collins kept improving, learned to

shoot Shoot most commonly refers to: * Shoot (botany), an immature plant or portion of a plant * Shooting, the firing of projectile weapons * Photo shoot, a photography session; an event wherein a photographer takes photographs Shoot may also refer t ...

accurately from beyond 15 feet and quickly became one of the most sought-after high school recruits in California. During his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year at Pomona High School, however, he was declared academically ineligible to play most of the season due to poor grades. Through his first seven games he had been averaging 28.6 points and 17.1 rebounds per game. Collins claimed that his focus on basketball as well as the attention he was receiving from 100+ college scouts distracted him from concentrating on his classwork. He did manage to play in the final few games of the season, but he had already proven himself enough to college recruiters where it did not affect his desirability to college recruiters.

College and later life

Tank Collins had to play basketball at a

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

for two seasons to improve his grades before he was able to play

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I basketball. After his brief junior college career, he chose to play basketball for the

Privateers A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

of the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...

(UNO). Between 1989–90 and 1990–91, Collins helped guide UNO to a period of great success. The Privateers won

American South Conference The American South Conference was an NCAA Division I athletic conference that existed from 1987–88 to 1990–91. The charter members were Arkansas State University, Lamar University, Louisiana Tech University, the University of New Orleans, the ...

(ASC) regular season championships, outright or shared, in both years Collins played. Their season records were: *1989–90 season — 21–11 (8–2 ASC) → co-regular season and ASC conference tournament champions *1990–91 season — 23–8 (9–3 ASC) → co-regular season champions New Orleans also qualified for NCAA postseason tournaments in each of his two seasons. They earned a berth into the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT) in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and advanced to the quarterfinal round. In Collins' senior season he led UNO in scoring with a 17.3 points per game average. They advanced to the 1991 NCAA Tournament but lost to

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, 55–49, in the opening round. To conclude his collegiate career, Tank was named the American South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year.

Professional career

Collins started his professional career with the Bakersfield Jammers of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) until the team folded in December 1991. He averaged 18.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 23 games played. On January 14, 1992, Collins was acquired by the Huntsville Lasers of the

Global Basketball Association The Global Basketball Association (GBA) was a professional basketball minor league based in the United States. The majority of the league's franchises were based in the Southern United States, with the remaining teams located in the Midwest. The le ...

(GBA). On February 5, he departed the Lasers after he received an offer to play in the Philippines. Collins played for Presto Ice Cream in the

(PBA) during the 1992 PBA First Conference. Collins joined the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

for the 1992

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

. He played for the

Yakima Sun Kings The Yakima SunKings were a basketball team located in Yakima, Washington, covering the central Washington sports market of Yakima, Tri-Cities, and Ellensburg and plays at the Yakima SunDome. The team competed in the Continental Basketball Assoc ...

of the CBA for the 1992–93 season. Collins averaged 20.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and was selected to the 1993 CBA All-Star Game. Collins played for the Halifax Windjammers of the Canadian National Basketball League (NBL) during the 1993 season. On September 16, 1993, Collins was traded by the Yakima Sun Kings to the Fargo-Moorhead Fever. He was expected to miss the start of the season due to a knee injury that he suffered during his stint in Canada.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Tank 1969 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American men's basketball players Bakersfield Jammers players Basketball players from Los Angeles County, California Great Taste Coffee Makers players New Orleans Privateers men's basketball players Philippine Basketball Association imports Power forwards Salt Lake Bruins men's basketball players Sportspeople from Pomona, California Yakima Sun Kings players