The OVC has featured some great players throughout its history but 1 of the best ever remains Eastern Illinois legend Henry Domercant. He dominated the college ranks with 26.4 PPG as a junior and 27.9 PPG as a senior, established a conference record with 2602 career PTS, then spent more than a decade playing pro basketball overseas before being hired as a player development coordinator for the Chicago Bulls last month. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Henry’s college coach Rick Samuels about his former star player as well as classmate Tony Romo. Today is Henry’s 40th birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
(photo credit: lincolncourier.com)
Henry’s nickname was “H-Bomb” due to frequently “dropping bombs” on your opponents: who gave him the nickname, and how did he like it? We called him “Oh Henry” because we would always say “Oh you’re amazing” when he kept consistently making shots. Cheerleaders would also throw around OH Henry! candy bars.
In 2003 as a player at Eastern Illinois he was named All-American and OVC POY: what did it mean to him to win such outstanding honors? He was proud of that. Henry was a gym rat who maxed out his talent more than any player I ever coached. He loves to be in the gym and work out: he would be in the rec center at 6AM and would make 100 shots going right and then 100 going left. We were in the 2002 preseason NIT at Boise State and he talked our van driver into taking him to the arena at 8AM. He asked a Boise assistant if he could turn on the lights and work on his shooting routine: after an hour he handed the ball back to coach and thanked him…then went out that night and scored 36 PTS on them! There were times late in the season when we would have to tell him to stop because his legs were breaking down.
From 2001-2003 he finished in the top-5 the country in scoring each year: what is the secret to being a great scorer, and did you feel like he was 1 of the best players in the country? I certainly thought that he was 1 of the best scorers in the country. The year he graduated was when the NBA started to allow zone defenses and I told scouts that Henry would be able to light them up. He is also a great team representative: when he was in Turkey he would go out and conduct clinics for kids. He could score even when people were hanging all over him. We redshirted him as a freshman and almost lost him: he still holds it against me, even though he would not have scored as many points as he did! His high school coach told me that he was going to be a great player.
He remains the all-time leading scorer in conference history with 2602 PTS: did you realize at the time how prolific a player he was, and do you think anyone will ever break his record? Somebody will probably break his record thanks to the 3-PT shot. However, a lot of good players turn pro before they become seniors so it would take a special kind of player.
He played professionally in Greece/Turkey/Russia/Italy: how does pro ball overseas compare to college basketball? He was able to adjust because he is such a quality person. I believe he led 1 of his leagues in 3P% a few years ago.
He represents Bosnia and Herzegovina internationally: how did he become a Bosnian citizen? He became a naturalized citizen because they wanted him on their team. The Bosnian team is fairly average but they have developed several big guys who have come over to the US.
1 of his college classmates was Tony Romo: did they know each other back then, and could you tell at the time how great a player Tony would become? They were seniors at the same time when they were both getting national recognition. Tony loved to play basketball and worked at our summer camps and played a lot of pickup games so they got to know each other pretty well. I knew that Tony was a great athlete but had no idea that he would become such a great QB.
When people look back on his career, how do you want him to be remembered the most? I hope people recognize how hard he worked to become such a great player. The other thing is how great a person he is: he will probably end up in the Christian ministry once his playing days are over. He is a great role model and wants his life to have impact.