Whitey Dienelt

Johannes Paul "Hans" "Whitey" Dienelt


Born:
April 28, 1921
Free City of Danzig, Germany

Died:
January 12, 1990
Fort Wayne, IN


Career
1936-37 New Haven High School - Indiana (High School)
1937-38 New Haven High School - Indiana (High School)
1938-39 New Haven High School - Indiana (High School)
1940-41 Fort Wayne Pistons (Independent)
1943-44 Camp Ellis (military)
1946-47 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (NBL)

Born in the Free City of Danzig (currently Gdansk, Poland), Dienlelt's family moved to the US shortly after his birth, settling in New Haven, Indiana. Dienelt took to basketball as a youth, picking up the game quickly. After high school, he played for various industrial teams, where he caught the attention of Fred Zollner, who signed him to play for the Pistons. He worked at Zollner for many years before starting his own company, J. Hans Dienelt & Associates.

He married Victoria Anders (1923-2008) and they had two sons, Gary (1950-2014) and Dan.

He is sometimes listed as playing at Indiana University, but I see no evidence of this.

Source:
Grave/Obit

Stats:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/players/d/dienejo01n.html
http://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=dienewh01