Ernie Vandeweghe
Ernest Maurice Vandeweghe Jr. was an American professional basketball player. He was best known for playing for the New York Knicks of the NBA and for the athletic successes of his family. He and his wife Colleen Kay Hutchins were the parents of former NBA All-Star Kiki VanDeWeghe and Olympic swimmer Tauna Vandeweghe, and grandparents of tennis professional Coco Vandeweghe.
In his youth, Vandeweghe played football, basketball and baseball for Oceanside High School on Long Island where he was also a member of the Omega Gamma Delta fraternity. A 6'3" guard, Vandeweghe played collegiately for the Colgate University Raiders, where he was an All-American. He was drafted by the Knicks in the 1949 BAA Draft, and played in the NBA for six seasons.
After retiring from the NBA in 1956, Vandeweghe served as a physician for the Air Force while stationed overseas in Germany. Besides Kiki, he had three other children who were successful athletes: daughter Tauna won a U.S. national swimming championship in the backstroke, son Bruk medalled in beach volleyball in the 1994 Goodwill Games, and daughter Heather was captain of the U.S. national women's polo team and followed in her father's footsteps through medical school to become a physician.
Vandeweghe served as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and served on the Olympic Sports Commission under President Gerald Ford, where he assisted with development of two key pieces of sports legislation – Title IX and the 1976 Amateur Athletic Act. He has also been a senior vice president with Focus Partners LLC, a New York-based financial services firm, and a consultant with the United States Golf and Fitness Association. He occasionally provided commentary for several sports publications. He died at the age of 86 on November 8, 2014.
