Sonja Henning

Sonja L. Henning (born October 4, 1969) is an American attorney and former collegiate and professional women's basketball player. Born in Jackson, Tennessee, she grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, where she attended Horlick High School.

Sonja Henning

Personal information
Born	(1969-10-04) October 4, 1969 (age 55)
Nationality	American
Listed height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Career information
High school	Horlick (Racine, Wisconsin)
College	Stanford (1988–1991)
WNBA draft	1999: 2nd round, 12th overall pick
Selected by the Houston Comets
Number	3
Career history
1999	Houston Comets
2000–2002	Seattle Storm
2002	Houston Comets
2003	Washington Mystics
2003	Indiana Fever
Career highlights and awards
3x All Pac-10 (1989–1991) Kodak Coaches' All-American (1991) Pac-10 Player of the Year (1991) NCAA champion (1990)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Women's basketball Representing the  United States FIBA World Championship 1990 Malaysia Team Competition Pan American Games 1991 Havana Team Competition

Stanford University

Henning played for Stanford and helped the team win the 1990 NCAA women's basketball championship.^[1]

.She attended Stanford University and played for its women's basketball team from 1987 to 1991. She helped the Cardinal win the 1990 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship game, defeating Auburn University. The following year, Henning was named Pac-10 Player of the Year^[1] and a Kodak All-American in her senior season.

An economics major, Henning graduated from Stanford in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

After graduation, there were few opportunities for women to play professional basketball in the United States at the time, so Henning started her professional career playing in a women's professional basketball team in Uppsala, Sweden in 1992.

USA Basketball

Henning was a member of the USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The event was known as the Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament at the time. The event was held in August 1988, when the USA team defeated the host team Brazil by a score of 70–68 to win the championship. Henning sank two free throws with under one second remaining in the game to win the final game and the gold medal.^[2]

Henning represented the US at the World Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 1990.^[1] The team won all eight games, earning the gold medal. Henning scored 2.0 points per game.^[3]

Henning again represented the USA at the 1990 Goodwill Games held in Seattle, WA during August 1990;^[1] the USA team won the gold medal.^[4]

Henning also played with the USA team at the 1991 Pan American Games. The team finished with a record of 4–2, but managed to win the bronze medal. The USA team lost a three-point game to Brazil, then responded with wins over Argentina and Cuba, earning a spot in the medal round. The next game was a rematch against Cuba, and this time the team from Cuba won a five-point game. The USA beat Canada easily to win the bronze. Gordon averaged 3 points per game.^[5]

Duke University

After playing one season in Sweden, she enrolled in Duke University Law School in 1992 where she obtained a Juris Doctor in 1995.

Shortly after graduating from Duke, Henning starting working as an attorney specializing in labor and employment law for the Littler Mendelson law firm in Los Angeles, California.

Resuming professional basketball

In 1996, the American Basketball League (ABL) was formed, and Henning tried out for a playing spot on a team in the new league. Henning was eventually drafted by the San Jose Lasers, a team which also featured former Stanford players Jennifer Azzi, Anita Kaplan, and Val Whiting.

She played for the Lasers for two seasons, then joined the Portland Power until financial difficulties led to the ABL's demise in 1998.

Henning joined the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) after being selected in the second round (24th overall pick) by the Houston Comets during its 1999 WNBA draft and helped the Comets to its third straight WNBA championship season. During that same year, she also served as the president of the WNBA Players Union.

In 2000, the WNBA held an expansion draft for current players to join newly formed teams. Henning was selected by the Seattle Storm and played with the team from 2000 to part of the 2002 season until she was traded back to the Comets.

After the 2002 season ended, she became a free agent, and signed a contract with the Washington Mystics on May 5, 2003, but was waived by the team three weeks later. In June 2003, Henning signed a contract with the Indiana Fever and played for them during that season.

Henning served as president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association from 2001 to 2003.^[6]

She retired from the WNBA in 2004.

Life after basketball

After serving two years as general counsel for Lucy.com, a startup Internet company that sells women's sporting apparel, Henning joined the law firm Tonkon Torp LLP, in Portland, Oregon. She is currently^[when?] an attorney specializing in labor and employment litigation matters.

Henning was vice president of North American League Partnership for Nike.^[7]

Henning^[when?] currently serves on the board of directors for the Urban League of Portland.

In May 2005, Henning was elected to a seat on the Portland School Board with more than 70 percent of the vote.^{[citation needed]}

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
1999†	Houston	32	32	24.9	.444	.317	.611	2.5	2.3	1.1	0.2	0.9	4.0
2000	Seattle	32	32	30.6	.351	.379	.607	2.7	2.5	1.9	0.1	1.7	5.3
2001	Seattle	32	28	28.2	.318	.182	.514	2.2	2.9	1.6	0.2	1.3	3.4
2002*	Seattle	8	5	25.9	.364	.000	.500	3.3	1.9	1.1	0.1	0.9	2.3
2002*	Houston	23	10	22.7	.346	.250	.455	2.5	2.2	1.0	0.3	1.6	1.9
2002	Total	31	15	23.5	.351	.188	.467	2.7	2.1	1.0	0.2	1.4	2.0
2003*	Washington	1	0	5.0	.000	.000	.000	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
2003*	Indiana	23	1	12.6	.262	.000	.250	1.1	1.3	0.6	0.0	0.6	1.0
2003	Total	24	1	12.3	.256	.000	.250	1.0	1.2	0.6	0.0	0.5	1.0
Career	5 years, 4 teams	151	108	24.5	.356	.278	.547	2.3	2.3	1.3	0.2	1.2	3.2

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
1999†	Houston	6	6	22.7	.348	.111	.333	3.0	1.8	1.2	0.2	1.2	3.2
2002	Houston	3	3	16.0	.000	.000	.000	1.3	1.3	0.3	0.0	0.7	0.0
Career	2 years, 1 team	9	9	20.4	.250	.091	.333	2.4	1.7	0.9	0.1	1.0	2.1

College

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
1987-88	Stanford	32	-	-	44.2	0.0	75.9	4.3	4.0	1.7	0.1	-	10.8
1988-89	Stanford	30	-	-	49.8	43.2	72.9	4.1	5.7	1.9	0.1	-	10.1
1989-90	Stanford	33	-	-	45.1	25.6	73.8	4.2	6.7	2.3	0.2	-	8.8
1990-91	Stanford	32	-	-	45.5	38.0	63.1	6.0	7.4	2.8	0.3	-	15.7
Career		127	-	-	46.0	36.4	70.5	4.6	6.0	2.2	0.2	-	11.4
Statistics retrievedg from Sports-Reference.[8]

References

1. "Attorney Sonja Henning Gives Up Courtroom For Basketball Court". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
2. "First Women's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team -- 1988". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
3. "Eleventh World Championship -- 1990". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 20 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
4. "SECOND WOMEN'S GOODWILL GAMES -- 1990". www.usab.com. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
5. "Eleventh Pan American Games -- 1991". USA Basketball. Feb 20, 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
6. Ricketts, Camille (2004-01-01). "Great Court Awareness". Stanford Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
7. "This Year's WNBA All-Star Game Featured A Special Jersey Dedicated To Brittney Griner". Essence. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
8. "Sonja Henning College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved April 11, 2024.

External links

• Tonkon Torp LLP biography
• WNBA player profile
• 2004 Stanford Magazine article: Whatever Happened To...Sonja Henning
• 2003 Indiana Fever article