Sonya E Henderson's Life: Henderson Stayed Home to Blaze a Trail for Women at Wake Forest
9/28/2023 6:45:00 AM | General, Women's Basketball
Henderson is not only a trailblazer for the Wake Forest community but a role model for young women in the Winston-Salem community.
It's less than four miles from Piney Grove Park to Reynolds Gymnasium, but the journey from the blacktop courts to the Wake Forest Women's Basketball team changed Sonya Henderson's life and had a historical impact on the program that belies the short distance.
It's at Piney Grove Park where Henderson honed her craft, routinely dominating her all-male competition on the blacktop. Henderson lived right next to Piney Grove Baptist Church, with the park sitting adjacent to the park.
Her grandparents, Fred and Susie Pinkney, adopted Sonya and her brother, Ray, just three after her mother died of cancer at the age of 32. Sonya's grandparents had already raised 11 kids of their own, in a strict Baptist atmosphere. With a motherly instinct, Sonya's grandmother repeatedly expressed concern about Henderson hanging out with the boys all the time.
"I'm playing with the boys because I'm trying to improve my basketball game," Henderson told her grandmother. "One day, God is going to help me get a scholarship to one of the best schools in the nation.
"Little did I know at the time it was going to be Wake Forest, but I made a good choice."
As a three-sport star at North Forsyth, her senior year she received the Coaches Awards, which was given to the athlete who demonstrates outstanding characteristics such as leadership, sportsmanship and dedication. Henderson was Coached by Ron Bray, who also did some work with the Wake Forest football staff. While Bray was talking up the virtues of becoming a Demon Deacon to Henderson, he was also speaking with Wake Forest women's basketball assistant coach Lori Bailey.
"He told me there were a few schools looking at me, because of my skills, but he'd really like for me to consider looking at Wake Forest," Henderson recalls. "He told me to get my grades up, which I did. I had a good GPA and did well on the SAT."
Bailey came to watch Henderson play and met with her grandparents.
"I was very impressed with her determination to succeed in whatever she did after high school," Bailey said. "Her goal was to go to college and attain a degree. I'm sure she had aspirations of playing basketball beyond college, which she did."
Although she had scholarship offers from Miami and a few northern schools, Henderson started to like what she was learning about Wake Forest as a potential collegiate destination. Her first knowledge of Wake Forest came from the days when her 6-foot-5 father worked as a cook in The Pit.
"I immediately made a connection with her," Henderson said about Bailey. "She was kind. I thought Wake Forest would be a great place for me to start this new adventure as a student-athlete at the college level.
"I really just wanted to go to Wake Forest, so I didn't give a lot of attention to the other schools or go on any other visits."
Henderson, along with teammate Keeva Jackson became the first two Black women's basketball players at Wake Forest.
"I was treated with a lot of respect," Henderson said. "I felt a lot of sisterhood. Janice (Dr. Janice Collins) and Keeva were roommates, so we hung out a lot together. I was treated well and there's still a lot of sisterly love there. It's been a great, loving connection, as well as a great atmosphere and environment."
Collins was one year behind Henderson and Jackson in her arrival at Wake Forest.
"Knowing they were here let me know that if they can do it, I can do it," Collins said about their immediate impact. "It was very nice to have Keeva and Sonya there at Wake Forest. They protected me. It was nice to have them."
At 5-foot-11, Henderson played a lot of power forward and center for the Deacs, playing with her back to the basket against players who typically had a couple of inches advantage on her.
"I had good jumping skills and was aggressive on the boards," she said. "The biggest adjustment on the court was having set plays and going against taller players."
Henderson led the team in free-throw shooting as a junior, then led the Demon Deacons with 6.5 rebounds a game as a senior in 1985-86.
"Sonya was a monster on the boards," Bailey said. "We just didn't want her to dribble too much. She was good from the 3-point range before there were even 3-pointers."
"Sonya was a good, tough rebounder," said Dr. Herman Eure, Professor Emeritus of Biology at Wake Forest. "When the coach depended on someone to get a board late in the game, it was on Sonya.
"Sonya is a gregarious, people person. She was a star at North Forsyth, and that crew followed her when she played at Wake Forest."
Just as Henderson was about to break into the starting lineup as an underclassmen, she and Jackson ran late to practice coming home from the hair salon. They both were benched to start the next game.
"At least your hair looks good," teammate Roxann Moody quipped as she walked past them on the bench.
There definitely was an adjustment period to Wake Forest for Henderson off the court and in the classroom.
"It took me a while to adjust, but I did," she said. "If I make an effort to do something, I'm going to give it 110 percent. The academics at Wake Forest were more difficult than high school. My grades were a challenge early, but after I got my tutors I really took a big leap forward. Eventually things worked out, but it was difficult in the beginning.
"Oh — I'm the only person of color in this class. But everybody was very loving and it was a great atmosphere. Even the regular students at Wake Forest were nice and respectful including all the other athletes whose path I crossed as well."
Sports has a way of unifying folks, especially over the common goal of winning games.
"When you have a unified vision of winning, you have to get past all the other stuff," Collins said. "We're a team, and we're going to work as a team. If there was any racism, that's going to shrink away, because you're going to do what's right for your team and to represent your school. We're going to win together and lose together."
Henderson had her roommates come visit her grandparents in Winston-Salem often.
"Her house was so small, but also so warm," Collins said. "It felt like a hug everytime I visited. There was always something cooking on the stove, ready for you to eat. There was always food. Her family was amazing — just sweet, loving people.
"She is so down to earth and never meets a stranger. She was a monster on the court, but was also ridiculously nice."
Music turned out to be the true passion for Henderson, and that began to manifest itself with a love for the group Morris Day and The Time, who had gained notoriety in the mid-80s for their role in the Prince movie "Purple Rain."
"Sonya was always singing and performing," Bailey said. "Her and Janice Collins always entertained. They loved Morris Day and The Time."
With the classroom pressures coupled with the devotion to the basketball team, music got shoved in the background for Henderson while at Wake Forest.
"Music was my first love, even before basketball," she said. "I joined the church choir as a child and had a passion for singing. While at Wake Forest, with all the workouts for basketball and the rigorous academics, I let music go for a bit. I just didn't have the time, despite the passion I had for music."
As her time as a Demon Deacon came to a close, men's basketball players like Alvis Rogers and Muggsy Bogues encouraged Henderson to play professional basketball.
With that, Coach Wanda Briley made contact with a basketball agent who helped Henderson secure a contract to play on a professional division one women's team in the South of France/Aix-en-Provence for one year. She then returned to the United States and the NWBA League was about to start. Her skills and talents got her on the roster of one of the first professional women's teams in Charlotte, called the Carolina Blaze.
After the NWBA folded, it was Gil McGregor who contacted a good friend of his, Jon Heath who was coaching a professional division one women's team in Brussels, Belgium. Jon jumped on a plane and came to Reynolds Gymnasium to see Henderson play. After seeing her play, he gave her a professional contract to play in Belgium where her team won two-consecutive national championship titles in the Belgium First Division and also won back-to-back Belgian Cups.
It's important to note that Gil and Jon were good friends as they both played on the same professional first division men's basketball team in the early 1970's in Belgium where they won a National Championship title together.
That connection led Henderson to the opportunity where she could explore her musical talents after Coach Heath introduced her to some of his friends that were ex-professional men's basketball players, who became professional recording artists and singers.
Their group was called, "Yes We're Tall."
"When I got to Brussels, that changed everything," Henderson explained. "Their group at that time was looking for a female singer and dancer. I had more free time, so I ended up joining their group and going to the studio."
Then another producer heard Henderson perform and asked her to join on a project that included writing lyrics, something that she'd never done before. The result was "The Atmosphere That Surrounds Me," a track that soared to No. 1 on the dance charts in Europe.
"I was in the right place at the right time," Henderson said. "God works in mysterious ways. That was the first song I ever wrote.
"It made my dreams come true. I always dreamed of playing professional basketball. It changed my life because it allowed me to follow my passions and get into the music business. I didn't know I'd have a No. 1 hit, but I had a passion for music and entertaining. It was a positive, life-changing event."
"Faith is embedded in me because of my grandparents, who raised me in a Christian, Baptist atmosphere. They taught me you have to treat people as you'd like to be treated and love each other regardless of differences. When you dream, dream big and try to find a way to make those dreams a reality. Faith played a big part in my life."
Henderson came back to Winston-Salem to finish her degree in 2002 obtaining her B.A. in mass communication and theater arts. Following graduation, Henderson did some music collaborations with two local producers from Winston-Salem, Roderick Dephat Carter and Michael Charles Bryant.
She recorded her first full Neo-Soul / R&B album, entitled Dimensions of Love Vol. 1, which is in every distribution site online (i.e. ITunes, Amazon, etc.).
Henderson recorded several singles again with Carter, promoting and giving tribute to women's basketball and a single encouraging our today's youth to have a positive flow in life. As previously mentioned, Henderson returned to Belgium in 2015 and that's when her music collaborations with her very gifted and talented producers brought to life her number one international hit song, "The Atmosphere That Surrounds Me," – which was remixed by Serge Ramaekers and called, ATM-Oz-Fear Serge Ramaekers Remix.
Her most recent release is called, "Make It Bounce Single/EP," – which is another single giving tribute to the exciting game of basketball.
Henderson returns to Winston-Salem at the end of October where she will be honored later this year as a 2023 Trailblazer Award honoree.
"It's important for young women who come now, especially Black women, to know who paid the price for them," Eure said.
It's at Piney Grove Park where Henderson honed her craft, routinely dominating her all-male competition on the blacktop. Henderson lived right next to Piney Grove Baptist Church, with the park sitting adjacent to the park.
Her grandparents, Fred and Susie Pinkney, adopted Sonya and her brother, Ray, just three after her mother died of cancer at the age of 32. Sonya's grandparents had already raised 11 kids of their own, in a strict Baptist atmosphere. With a motherly instinct, Sonya's grandmother repeatedly expressed concern about Henderson hanging out with the boys all the time.
"I'm playing with the boys because I'm trying to improve my basketball game," Henderson told her grandmother. "One day, God is going to help me get a scholarship to one of the best schools in the nation.
"Little did I know at the time it was going to be Wake Forest, but I made a good choice."
As a three-sport star at North Forsyth, her senior year she received the Coaches Awards, which was given to the athlete who demonstrates outstanding characteristics such as leadership, sportsmanship and dedication. Henderson was Coached by Ron Bray, who also did some work with the Wake Forest football staff. While Bray was talking up the virtues of becoming a Demon Deacon to Henderson, he was also speaking with Wake Forest women's basketball assistant coach Lori Bailey.
"He told me there were a few schools looking at me, because of my skills, but he'd really like for me to consider looking at Wake Forest," Henderson recalls. "He told me to get my grades up, which I did. I had a good GPA and did well on the SAT."
Bailey came to watch Henderson play and met with her grandparents.
"I was very impressed with her determination to succeed in whatever she did after high school," Bailey said. "Her goal was to go to college and attain a degree. I'm sure she had aspirations of playing basketball beyond college, which she did."
Although she had scholarship offers from Miami and a few northern schools, Henderson started to like what she was learning about Wake Forest as a potential collegiate destination. Her first knowledge of Wake Forest came from the days when her 6-foot-5 father worked as a cook in The Pit.
"I immediately made a connection with her," Henderson said about Bailey. "She was kind. I thought Wake Forest would be a great place for me to start this new adventure as a student-athlete at the college level.
"I really just wanted to go to Wake Forest, so I didn't give a lot of attention to the other schools or go on any other visits."
Henderson, along with teammate Keeva Jackson became the first two Black women's basketball players at Wake Forest.
"I was treated with a lot of respect," Henderson said. "I felt a lot of sisterhood. Janice (Dr. Janice Collins) and Keeva were roommates, so we hung out a lot together. I was treated well and there's still a lot of sisterly love there. It's been a great, loving connection, as well as a great atmosphere and environment."
Collins was one year behind Henderson and Jackson in her arrival at Wake Forest.
"Knowing they were here let me know that if they can do it, I can do it," Collins said about their immediate impact. "It was very nice to have Keeva and Sonya there at Wake Forest. They protected me. It was nice to have them."
At 5-foot-11, Henderson played a lot of power forward and center for the Deacs, playing with her back to the basket against players who typically had a couple of inches advantage on her.
"I had good jumping skills and was aggressive on the boards," she said. "The biggest adjustment on the court was having set plays and going against taller players."
Henderson led the team in free-throw shooting as a junior, then led the Demon Deacons with 6.5 rebounds a game as a senior in 1985-86.
"Sonya was a monster on the boards," Bailey said. "We just didn't want her to dribble too much. She was good from the 3-point range before there were even 3-pointers."
"Sonya was a good, tough rebounder," said Dr. Herman Eure, Professor Emeritus of Biology at Wake Forest. "When the coach depended on someone to get a board late in the game, it was on Sonya.
"Sonya is a gregarious, people person. She was a star at North Forsyth, and that crew followed her when she played at Wake Forest."
Just as Henderson was about to break into the starting lineup as an underclassmen, she and Jackson ran late to practice coming home from the hair salon. They both were benched to start the next game.
"At least your hair looks good," teammate Roxann Moody quipped as she walked past them on the bench.
There definitely was an adjustment period to Wake Forest for Henderson off the court and in the classroom.
"It took me a while to adjust, but I did," she said. "If I make an effort to do something, I'm going to give it 110 percent. The academics at Wake Forest were more difficult than high school. My grades were a challenge early, but after I got my tutors I really took a big leap forward. Eventually things worked out, but it was difficult in the beginning.
"Oh — I'm the only person of color in this class. But everybody was very loving and it was a great atmosphere. Even the regular students at Wake Forest were nice and respectful including all the other athletes whose path I crossed as well."
Sports has a way of unifying folks, especially over the common goal of winning games.
"When you have a unified vision of winning, you have to get past all the other stuff," Collins said. "We're a team, and we're going to work as a team. If there was any racism, that's going to shrink away, because you're going to do what's right for your team and to represent your school. We're going to win together and lose together."
Henderson had her roommates come visit her grandparents in Winston-Salem often.
"Her house was so small, but also so warm," Collins said. "It felt like a hug everytime I visited. There was always something cooking on the stove, ready for you to eat. There was always food. Her family was amazing — just sweet, loving people.
"She is so down to earth and never meets a stranger. She was a monster on the court, but was also ridiculously nice."
Music turned out to be the true passion for Henderson, and that began to manifest itself with a love for the group Morris Day and The Time, who had gained notoriety in the mid-80s for their role in the Prince movie "Purple Rain."
"Sonya was always singing and performing," Bailey said. "Her and Janice Collins always entertained. They loved Morris Day and The Time."
With the classroom pressures coupled with the devotion to the basketball team, music got shoved in the background for Henderson while at Wake Forest.
"Music was my first love, even before basketball," she said. "I joined the church choir as a child and had a passion for singing. While at Wake Forest, with all the workouts for basketball and the rigorous academics, I let music go for a bit. I just didn't have the time, despite the passion I had for music."
As her time as a Demon Deacon came to a close, men's basketball players like Alvis Rogers and Muggsy Bogues encouraged Henderson to play professional basketball.
With that, Coach Wanda Briley made contact with a basketball agent who helped Henderson secure a contract to play on a professional division one women's team in the South of France/Aix-en-Provence for one year. She then returned to the United States and the NWBA League was about to start. Her skills and talents got her on the roster of one of the first professional women's teams in Charlotte, called the Carolina Blaze.
After the NWBA folded, it was Gil McGregor who contacted a good friend of his, Jon Heath who was coaching a professional division one women's team in Brussels, Belgium. Jon jumped on a plane and came to Reynolds Gymnasium to see Henderson play. After seeing her play, he gave her a professional contract to play in Belgium where her team won two-consecutive national championship titles in the Belgium First Division and also won back-to-back Belgian Cups.
It's important to note that Gil and Jon were good friends as they both played on the same professional first division men's basketball team in the early 1970's in Belgium where they won a National Championship title together.
That connection led Henderson to the opportunity where she could explore her musical talents after Coach Heath introduced her to some of his friends that were ex-professional men's basketball players, who became professional recording artists and singers.
Their group was called, "Yes We're Tall."
"When I got to Brussels, that changed everything," Henderson explained. "Their group at that time was looking for a female singer and dancer. I had more free time, so I ended up joining their group and going to the studio."
Then another producer heard Henderson perform and asked her to join on a project that included writing lyrics, something that she'd never done before. The result was "The Atmosphere That Surrounds Me," a track that soared to No. 1 on the dance charts in Europe.
"I was in the right place at the right time," Henderson said. "God works in mysterious ways. That was the first song I ever wrote.
"It made my dreams come true. I always dreamed of playing professional basketball. It changed my life because it allowed me to follow my passions and get into the music business. I didn't know I'd have a No. 1 hit, but I had a passion for music and entertaining. It was a positive, life-changing event."
"Faith is embedded in me because of my grandparents, who raised me in a Christian, Baptist atmosphere. They taught me you have to treat people as you'd like to be treated and love each other regardless of differences. When you dream, dream big and try to find a way to make those dreams a reality. Faith played a big part in my life."
Henderson came back to Winston-Salem to finish her degree in 2002 obtaining her B.A. in mass communication and theater arts. Following graduation, Henderson did some music collaborations with two local producers from Winston-Salem, Roderick Dephat Carter and Michael Charles Bryant.
She recorded her first full Neo-Soul / R&B album, entitled Dimensions of Love Vol. 1, which is in every distribution site online (i.e. ITunes, Amazon, etc.).
Henderson recorded several singles again with Carter, promoting and giving tribute to women's basketball and a single encouraging our today's youth to have a positive flow in life. As previously mentioned, Henderson returned to Belgium in 2015 and that's when her music collaborations with her very gifted and talented producers brought to life her number one international hit song, "The Atmosphere That Surrounds Me," – which was remixed by Serge Ramaekers and called, ATM-Oz-Fear Serge Ramaekers Remix.
Her most recent release is called, "Make It Bounce Single/EP," – which is another single giving tribute to the exciting game of basketball.
Henderson returns to Winston-Salem at the end of October where she will be honored later this year as a 2023 Trailblazer Award honoree.
"It's important for young women who come now, especially Black women, to know who paid the price for them," Eure said.