varsity.roanoke.com

Like many mothers of young children, Carol Henderson marked the various stages of their growth with pencil marks on the back of a closet door.
Two years ago she had to find a new canvas.

Josh Henderson’s frame has outgrown the old door frame. At 6 feet, 11 inches, the 17-year-old Cave Spring senior is the tallest high school basketball player in Timesland.

However, he is barely the tallest person in his house. Henderson’s father, David, is a shade under 6-11.

David Henderson, a standout at Patrick Henry in the 1970s and a former backup center at Maryland, truly has raised his son in many ways.

“He was my first rec league coach,” Josh said. “Of course, we’d always have our epic one-on-one battles in the driveway.

“He’ll still come out and play sometimes, but he’ll try cheap shots. Like, I’ll go for a layup and he’ll push me into the garage or he’ll roll the ball down
the hill so I have to go down and get it. Recently I just dunked on him so he decided he doesn’t want to play anymore.”


Josh Henderson’s senior season begins Wednesday with a home game against William Byrd.

His last game in a Cave Spring uniform was memorable. Henderson led the Knights to the VHSL Group AA Division 3 championship with a 39-33
overtime victory over Brunswick.

Since then the Cave Spring center has been busy.

Henderson played on the AAU summer circuit, culminating with a strong performance in the 17-under nationals in Las Vegas that elevated his
recruiting profile. In November, he ended months of suspense when he signed he full ride with Vanderbilt.

Henderson’s cell phone required one big friends and family plan.

“There was always one week in the summer where I would take off completely and just turn my phone off,” he said.

“The coaches only allowed a couple of phone calls each week, so each phone call they try to get as much information in as they can. I’d be on the
phone for 30 minutes with one person at a time and be taking three or four phone calls a day. Sometimes it kind of makes your head spin.”

Cave Spring coach Billy Hicks knows the drill. But All-American J.J. Redick made it easy on Hicks by committing to Duke as a sophomore.

“It was always more than it was with J.J. because J.J. narrowed his choices so early,” Hicks said. “This summer I was an hour and half, two hours on
the phone.  

“When Josh blew up out in Vegas, my phone started ringing and it was nuts.”


Josh Henderson comes from a family of athletes.

His great-uncle, the late Jim Slaughter starred at Roanoke’s Jefferson High and was the University of South Carolina’s first basketball All-American in
1951.

Josh’s grandfather, Jack Henderson, at one time held the school record for coaching victories at Franklin County High School.

Josh’s uncle, Jim Henderson, played basketball at Radford University.

His sister, Rebecca, recently finished her career at Bridgewater College as the school’s career rebounding leader.

After starting on a Patrick Henry team that reached the 1976 Group AAA semifinals, David Henderson had a limited ACC career. He played in 38
games for Maryland from 1976-80, scoring 35 points and grabbing 33 rebounds during an era when his teammates included Buck Williams, Larry
Gibson, Albert King and Ernest Graham.

Maryland won the ACC regular-season title during his senior year but lost the tournament final 73-72 to Duke.

“I was pretty much a practice center, but I got a good education and had some good experiences there,” he said.

“Joshua is much better than I ever was.”


Hicks was just taking an interest in ACC basketball as a young N.C. State fan in the late 1970s so he recalls David Henderson as a Terrapin.

“I remember watching TV and remember them saying that guy was from Roanoke,” Hicks said.

“Then I forgot about it for awhile. There’s several Hendersons out in the Cave Spring area, and until Josh was probably in about the sixth or seventh
grade, I didn’t even put it together that that’s who it was.”

By then, Josh Henderson was a head taller than everyone his age and Hicks had taken a huge interest.

“The thing I always liked about Josh was even though he was bigger than everybody else, he could always dribble and shoot and pass. In the seventh
grade he won the 3-point shooting contest at my camp.

“I always figured he’d be a big kid, but I never thought he’d be 6-11. I was thinking, if he gets to be 6-8 or 6-9, he’s probably going to be really good.”

Now 228 pounds, Henderson runs the floor well for a big man and is an excellent passer from the high post or low post.

As a junior Henderson averaged 15.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 56 percent from the field. He made 13 of 16
free throws in three state tournament games including a pair that sent the championship game to overtime.

“Obviously, other teams try to be physical with Josh,” Hicks said. “But he’s gotten to be such a good free throw shooter, if you put him on the line 10 or
12 times you’re hurting yourself.

“Two years ago I would have said, ‘Meet him at the foul line with your forearm, put your knee in his back and ride him and frustrate him.’ Now, if you do
that you’re going to make him mad and he’s not going to look to pass. He’s going to look to score.”


Henderson looked at all angles when it came to choosing a Division I basketball program, cutting his lists of finalists to four before picking Vanderbilt.

“I looked at the academic side, the playing time, the coaches,” he said. “I looked at all the schools as a whole. I narrowed it down to the academics
with Virginia, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Davidson. Those schools are really high with their academics, and also their basketball teams compete at
a really high level.

“Then I looked at the coaches and the teammates, the ones I would be spending the next four years of my life with.”

Roanoke has seen a number of high school stars such as George Lynch, Curtis Staples and J.R. Reynolds leave town early and complete their prep
careers elsewhere.

Even Henderson’s great-uncle, Slaughter, finished his prep career at Augusta Military Academy under a recruiting ploy concocted by then-South
Carolina coach Frank Johnson.

Henderson never considered it.

“Here I’m surrounded with all my friends,” he said.

“I figured here I’m developing as a player and Coach Hicks has done for me. In AAU I showed how I can compete. In high school, I’m with my guys.”

Like Redick, who led Cave Spring to the 2002 Group AAA championship, Henderson has elevated his team…without having his head in the clouds.

“His dad played the game at a high level for a very well-known coach,” Hicks said. “Dave’s vocal during the games and wants Josh to well.

“If anything, I’ll say, ‘Josh played great,’ and he’ll say, ‘Well, I think he can do this, this and this better.’ He doesn’t inflate Josh like a lot of parents
would.”


So what has it been like to go through adolescence standing nearly 7 feet tall?

“It’s God’s gift and I’m trying to use everything he gave me, but like the chairs we sit in, sometimes they’re kind of small,” Josh said. “The doors, I have
to be careful of. Sometimes there’s little hinges that stick out.

Shopping? Forget it.

“I always hated shopping ever since I was younger,” he said. “I’d always find something I liked but they wouldn’t have my size. With shoes, they don’t
hold size 16 anywhere so I have to order it.”

“I go to big and tall. The problem there is it’s mainly for big and tall people. I think it should be big or tall.

“I have great friends. It’s not like someone’s going to judge you on height. Of course for sports it was great. And when I was at the theme parks I could
always ride the roller coaster sooner than everybody else.”

Josh Henderson is riding high, but there are always challenges ahead.

Don’t call David Henderson retired from driveway one-on-one battles just yet.

“That’s not completely true,” he said. “They’ve been dialed back a little bit. We just don’t have games during the season.”