It was an ordinary day. Reading about a fellow by the name of Whitey Van Nieda. His real first name is Stanley, but no one ever knew him by anything other than "Whitey." Whitey was a resident of nearby Ephrata, Pennsylvania who had lived a long, colorful and memorial life playing the game of basketball. This past Sunday marked a milestone in both Whitey's life as well as in the game of professional basketball for you see...Whitey turned 100 on June 19th! He is the first and only NBA basketball player ever to reach the age of 100.
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| Stanley "Whitey" Van Nieda |
His real name was Stanley, but nobody ever called him that due to his flowing blonde hair which is no longer blonde, but still flows. He appears to be as lean today as he was during his playing days. His 6-foot-1 inch body is much the same today as it was when he played in the NBA. As a basketball player he was what is referred to as a "swingman" which is too quick for anyone as tall as he was as well as too big for anyone as quick. He played for Ephrata High School where he was the leading scorer in Lancaster County in scoring in 1940. He then went on to Penn Statee where he played on the freshman team his first year, since freshmen weren't allowed to play varsity at the time. After a year at Penn State he enlisted in the army and became a paratrooper stationed mostly in Germany during WWII. While in the Army he met the legendary coach Adolph Rupp who told Whitey to look for him when he came back home. Eventually Whitey returned to Penn State where he began his professional basketball career playing weekends for the Lancaster Red Roses which happened to draw the attention of the Tri-City Blackhawks of the NBL who eventually signed him in 1947. He got a $2,000 signing bonus and made about $14,000 a year to play for them. The team was owned by Leo Ferris who later was known for inventing the 24-second clock. Whitey played for the Tri-City Blackhawks which were based in Moline, Illinois. They were known as Tri-City since they were along the Mississippi and Illinois-Iowa border. The Blackhawks drew large crowds which included Gov. Adlai Stevenson.  |
| Whitey, #6, playing for the Blackhawks. |
Whitey mistakenly called him "Alibi" Stevenson who luckily got a big kick out of it. The coach of Whitey's team was a fellow named Red Auerbach who later coached the Boston Celtics to nine NBA titles. Whitey said he didn't think Red was as good a coach as he was a recruiter. Eventually, in 1949, the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America to form the NBA. Whitey scored 14 points in his first NBA game when Tri-City played the Denver Nuggets on Oct. 29, 1949. Whitey sustained an eye injury in the 1949-50 season which dropped his playing time and caused a trade to the Baltimore Bullets. It was there that he played his final professional game. Shortly after he became the head coach of Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County where he coached for three years. He did continue to play pro and semi-pro games including alumni games at Ephrata High School until he was in his 60s. He eventually worked at the Black Angus restaurant in Ephrata as well as writing a trivia-column for the local Ephrata Review. Today he loves watching NBA and college basketball on TV. A few months ago Whitey had a fall and is now at the Masonic Village in nearby Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania were he and his wife now live. Seems he's not too happy about being confined, even at the age of 100. He says he will be up and getting around soon. Good luck on that Whitey. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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