Dehnert, "Dutch" (Henry G.)
Basketball
b. April 5, 1898, New York, NY
d. April 20, 1979
Dehnert is often credited with "inventing" the pivot play when he was with the great Original Celtics team. Actually, it seems that the play had been used before, but Dehnert and his teammates brought it to near perfection. Nat Holman, a member of the team, later wrote, "The Original Celtics, with 'Dutch' Dehnert in the pivot position, developed this into the most damaging scoring play ever devised and did much to bring the play to its present state of comparative success."
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Dehnert began playing professional basketball right out of high school for various teams in the New York State, Eastern, Pennsylvania State, and New England Leagues. He joined the Celtics in 1919, their second year of existence.
He started using the pivot play when the Celtics came up against a team that used a "standing guard," who remained at his own foul line to prevent the other team from fast breaking. Some sources say the game was in Miami, others say Chattanooga. Dehnert recalled, "I volunteered to stand in front of him with my back to the basket, so that instead of the guard breaking up our passes, they could pass to me and I could give it back to them. We tried this, and in an effort to bat the ball out of my hands, the standing guard moved around to my right side. All I had to do was pivot to my left, take one step and lay the ball up."
After years of barnstorming success, the Celtics joined the American Basketball League in 1926 and won two straight championships. The team was forced to break up, Dehnert going to the Cleveland Rosenblums with Pete Barry and Joe Lapchick. Cleveland promptly won two titles.
Dehnert then went to the Toledo Red Men. The ABL folded in 1931 and some of the Celtics, including Dehnert, got back together to continue barnstorming.
Dehnert later coached the Detroit Eagles for two seasons, winning the world professional tournament in 1941. After coaching Harrisburg of the new ABL in 1942-43, he went to the Sheboygan Redskins and won the National Basketball League's Western Division titles in 1944-45 and 1945-46. He coached the Cleveland Rebels in the new Basketball Association of America for part of the 1946-47 season.