Falls Church when he left for Alabama in 1965. The Fairfax County Council on Human Relations, where he had served as program chairman, gave him a testimonial in 1960. His Falls Church/Fairfax County NAACP branch also celebrated its 50th anniversary shortly before his departure. In 1972, Black Sports magazine cited Henderson as "one of the foremost black Americans of all time." In 1973, Henderson was elected Honorary President of the North American Society for Sport History. In 1974, along with Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Bill Russell and Althea Gibson, he became an inaugural member of the Black Athletes Hall of Fame. The honors continued posthumously. In 1982, Fairfax County dedicated its Providence Recreation Center in Edwin Henderson's honor. In 1985, the City of Tuskegee named a park for E.B. Henderson. In 2002, the City of Falls Church named the Falls Church Community Center gymnasium in his honor. In 2005, the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School was named after Henderson's wife, because of her multi-years fight to bring equality to educational facilities in Fairfax County Public Schools and in Virginia. In 1999, the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation erected a pink granite (trondhjemite) archway memorializing the founders of the Colored Citizens Protective League (CCPL) which eventually became the NAACP's first rural branch. Since 1993, the Annual Tinner Blues Festival has taken place on the second Saturday of June in Falls Church's Cherry Hill Park. Many national and area blues musicians play at the event, which also recognizes the late Piedmont Blues guitarist/singer John Jackson, who made his home in Northern Virginia. In 2013, Henderson was inducted posthumously into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2018, the Library of Virginia honored Henderson as one of its Strong Men and Women. In 2022 the University of the District of Columbia renamed building 47 on their campus after Henderson. References Further reading James H.N. Henderson and Betty F. Henderson, Molder of Men: Portrait of a "Grand Old Man" Edwin Bancroft Henderson External links Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation 1880s births 1977 deaths African-American people in Virginia politics Activists for African-American civil rights Howard University alumni African-American basketball players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees People from Falls Church, Virginia American men's basketball players Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni 20th-century African-American people