Nation’s leading rebounder and No. 5 scorer to be inducted Friday, Nov. 11
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
He is the greatest to play men’s basketball at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
As a freshman in 2009-2010, Dennis Tinnon averaged a “double double” – 13.8 points and 10.7 rebounds a game. As a sophomore, Tinnon led the nation in rebounding with 13.4 per game and finished fifth nationally in scoring (23.2), the only Blue Devil to finish in the Top 10 in NJCAA Division I statistics in either category.
After earning his AA degree at KCKCC, Tinnon went on to play two seasons at Marshall University and three years professionally in Germany.
And now he’s headed for the KCKCC Athletic Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will be held Friday, Nov. 11, between the women’s and men’s games during the annual Keith Lindsey Classic (about 7:45 p.m.).
“I’m excited,” said Tinnon, who will attend the induction ceremonies. “It’s something I didn’t see coming. I never thought about the Hall of Fame; all I ever felt was about winning. It’s definitely an honor. It’s something that can never be taken away from me, just like my diploma.”
Tinnon is back in his home town of Green Bay, Wis., where he and his wife have a clothing store for women. Because of the business, Tinnon’s wife, Robin, and their two children (Denyah, 7, and Dennis III, 3) were not able to be in Germany the past season. “I’ve hung it up and retired,” Tinnon said.
While Tinnon’s statistics put him up among the national leaders, his effects on the Blue Devils as a team were even more pronounced. As a freshman, the Blue Devils were 21-10 and then were 25-7 in 2010-2011, the best record in KCKCC history. The Blue Devils’ 14-4 Jayhawk Conference record was also an all-time best. Picked sixth in the preseason, KCKCC was just two overtime losses to league champion Coffeyville (83-80 and 85-80) from the first outright championship in history.
“The best I’ve coached,” said Jon Oler, Tinnon’s head coach at KCKCC. “He’s a naturally gifted rebounder with great ability to finish around the basket.”
“Guys with his combination of skills and personality don’t come around very often,” agreed Bill Sloan, an 18-year assistant coach at KCKCC. “We’ve never had anyone as athletic as he is and yet such a nice young person. It may be a long time before we see another like him.”
Tinnon was originally recruited to KCKCC by Derick Denny, a Green Bay native who had led KCKCC in scoring in 2008-2009. Denny had recruited Tinnon to play in a couple of Native American tournaments in the Green Bay area.
“On the way home, Derick said I should come to KCKCC and try out and see if I liked it,” he remembered. One visit and he was signed on the spot.
“I needed to go to a community college grade-wise and it really helped me develop my basic skills,” Tinnon said. “The coaches were really wonderful to me and my family. Coach Sloan was like another father, always on me to bring the best out of me and yet I was treated like everyone else. That helped keep me level headed and get to the next level.”
At Marshall, he averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds in each of his two seasons and set a rebound record of 47 in four games in the Conference USA’s annual post-season tournament in which Marshall reached the championship game before losing to Memphis.
Tinnon got a chance to work out with the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA after going undrafted. When that didn’t work, his agent found him opportunities to play professionally in Germany.
“My first year, I averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds with Science City,” Tinnon said. His second season he played with Wurzburg, the same team NBA great Dirk Nowatski played with before coming to the U.S. However, a brain injury that came out of nowhere hospitalized him for a week four months into the season. “I was real lucky. They had to give me steroids and antibiotics and it was hard to recover. I probably should not have come back when I did but I loved basketball so much.”
He finished the season with Rasta Vechta, averaging five points and five rebounds, and then played his final season with the Kirchheim Knights, averaging nine points and seven rebounds.
“The competition (in Germany) was good, probably comparable to some of the teams we played in Conference USA,” Tinnon said. “Some of the rules are a little different. Once the ball bounces on the rim, you can knock it off. And you have to bounce the ball before you take your first step. I must have traveled 100 times.”
Playing in Germany afforded Tinnon the chance to see just about all of the major cities in Germany along with trips into Serbia and Belgium.
“It was definitely a great experience and I enjoyed every year,” he said. “The biggest difference was the language, trying to understand German although I was able to pick up a lot of German and understand. Everyone should have the experience of Europe. It’s so peaceful and there is so much history and historic old buildings.”