Anthony D. Henderson, Sr. was appointed the Pirates’ Director of Athletics in February 2023. He comes to Hampton from Yale University, where he served as the Deputy Director of Athletics.  In this role, he was a member of the athletics senior leadership team with primary responsibilities of leading all revenue generation and extending the brand and messaging of Yale Athletics through private philanthropy, corporate support, ticket sales, marketing efforts, community engagement, strategic communications, and DEI. Additionally, Henderson was also the sports administrator for the baseball, men’s soccer, men’s & women’s swimming & diving, and women’s ice hockey programs.

Henderson transitioned to Yale after two-plus years with the William & Mary Tribe, where he served as Senior Associate Athletics Director and Executive Director of Athletics Advancement. He was a member of the Tribe’s senior leadership team, and in addition to overseeing an encompassing advancement operation, he was the sports administrator for the football program.

 A recognized administrator, Henderson’s development efforts for William & Mary helped them enjoy their most successful fundraising campaign with $37.3 million in cash and pledges in his first year with the Tribe. He also led the development strategy for $67 million in facility projects, which featured lead gifts of $20 and $10 million towards complex renovations and new athletic facilities.

 Henderson’s progression of the William & Mary development team continued in his second year through collaboration with university advancement leadership and its ALL-IN campaign, a three-year plan developed to support athletics with $55 million, which yielded $22.8 million in year one. Additionally, he oversaw the transition from the Tribe Club to the William & Mary Athletic Foundation, LLC.

 In addition, Henderson modernized the Athletics Advancement operations, restructured executive boards, and placed a renewed focus on women’s philanthropy through W&M Women in Action. He also led the creation of sports resources, parents, recent alumni councils, the Tribe Varsity Association, and the Student-Athlete of Color Coalition.

Henderson arrived at William & Mary after serving seven seasons at The University of Akron, with his most recent role being Associate Athletics Director for Development. He began his career at Akron as the Director of Athletics Development in August 2011. He was promoted to Associate Athletics Director for Development in July 2016.

At The University of Akron, Henderson was responsible for day-to-day operations of the Z-Fund, the fundraising arm of Akron Athletics and each of its 20 sports, which included fundraising for capital projects, scholarships, major gifts, and the oversight of premium seating, hospitality areas, and events. In more than seven years, the Development team raised over $25 Million. It produced significant increases in fundraising for scholarships, a university priority, and increases in fundraising for restricted dollars to individual sports programs. In addition, Henderson was personally responsible for over $3.3 million in cash and pledges, including a $1.25 million gift to create the Keith, Jr. and Stephanie Cline Leadership Institute, whose mission is to equip the student-athletes at The University of Akron with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve success both during and after their collegiate careers.

In addition to leading the fundraising operation, he also served as the sports administrator for the Zips Football program.  In this role, he touched all program areas: goal setting, performance management, academics, compliance, budget, scheduling, capital projects, and Student-Athlete well-being.  On the scheduling front, he secured a two-for-one series with Kentucky while scheduling guaranteed games against Nebraska, Northwestern, South Carolina, Auburn, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Indiana and home-and-home games with Temple, UAB, New Mexico State, and San Jose State.  These games created an additional revenue stream to the Department of Athletics of more than $7 million through 2026. 

Before joining the Zips, Henderson spent three years at Old Dominion as the Assistant Director of Athletic Development. He managed donor relationships for the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation. He helped grow the athletic endowment to more than $16 million and the annual fund from $400,000 to $2.7 million annually through premium seat sales, annual contributions, and naming rights opportunities. Along with an increase in annual revenues, he also contributed to a rise in overall donor membership of 52% during his tenure, marking record levels of annual and major gift support during each year of his tenure. While there, he also played an integral part in the return of football to campus after a 70-year hiatus and was part of a team that instituted an external plan that sold out every football game from the opening kick in 2009 to 2018.

Henderson transitioned to Old Dominion University from the private sector, where he worked as the Senior Account Executive at The Event Authority, LLC in Charlotte, NC, responsible for managing the Jordan Brand Classic account. This signature High School All-Star Basketball event of the Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, Inc., was played in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, in New York City. Among his responsibilities were managing the relationship between the Jordan client, the City of New York, and the arena and the day-to-day operations, marketing, and sponsorship for the event. In addition, under his leadership, two new partnerships were forged with Upper Deck and the Amateur Athletic Union, respectively.

Preceding his employment with The Event Authority, he was the Director of Marketing and Corporate Partnerships for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in Virginia Beach, VA. In this role, he was responsible for prospecting, researching, and establishing leads to corporate relationships and overall marketing of the conference events. The conference’s main event, the MEAC Basketball Tournament, saw unprecedented growth during his tenure. Attendance rose 138%, total hotel room nights rose 39 percent, and economic impact for Raleigh, NC, was 22% from the 2006 mark of $3.37 million. He was also responsible for over $540,000 in additional revenue through sponsorship renewals and new acquisitions.

Entering employment in the field of sports as a Marketing Coordinator – Advanced Intern for Disney Sports Attractions in Orlando, FL, Henderson assisted in the promotion of events associated with Disney’s Wide World of Sports® Complex, which included Tampa Buccaneers Training Camp, Pop Warner Super Bowl, Atlanta Braves Spring Training, The FUNAI Classic – a PGA Tour Event, as well as the Disney Marathon. He was also involved in planning Disney Sports’ first West Coast initiative, the Disneyland Half Marathon. His sports career initially began as an intern in the front office of the Richmond Braves Baseball Club in Richmond, VA, where he assisted with maintaining and soliciting group accounts, contributing to record sales for the 2004 season.

Before entering the sports administration field, Henderson was a substitute teacher and assistant football coach at his alma mater, Powhatan High School. From 2001 – 2003, he coached on teams that were a combined 32–5 over the three years, winning the Group AA, Division 4 Virginia State Championship in 2003 with a record of 14-0. During his coaching tenure, he was responsible for developing numerous All-District, All-Region, and All-State players for the Indians, three of whom played at the college level.

A nationally recognized leader in collegiate athletics, in 2018, Henderson was selected among 25 senior-level administrators from across the country to participate in the prestigious 2018 NCAA Pathway Program. The program is designed to elevate those currently in senior-level positions within athletics administration to the next step in reaching their goal of becoming athletics directors. The year-long program is an intensive, experiential learning opportunity for selected participants representing NCAA Divisions I, II, and III.

Additionally, Henderson was a Hampton University 40-Under-40 honoree in the inaugural 2016 class, a member of the inaugural Big South Conference Connection in 2017, a four-year participant in the Collegiate Athletics Leadership Symposium (2016-2019, 2021), a 2016 LEAD1 (formerly D1A Athletic Directors) Institute Gradate, National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Senior Administrators Mentoring Institute participant (2015-2016, 2022) and a 2011 Dr. Charles Whitcomb NCAA Leadership Institute graduate which he returned to from 2016-18 as part of its alumni programming planning committee.

Henderson was also heavily involved with the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD). He is a two-time Diversity Award winner (2010 & 11), a five-year conference representative (2011-15), and organized the inaugural Mid-American Conference Athletic Development Summit (2014). In 2015, he was one of just ten national graduates of the first-ever Bobby Purcell Mentor Program. He also served as a NAADD Diversity Award selection committee member from 2013 to 2020.

Henderson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Hampton University while competing as a student-athlete on the football team, where he played defensive back and was part of a squad that won two MEAC regular-season titles and advanced to the NCAA I-AA playoffs in each of those seasons. After moving up to Division I in 1995, these feats were the first for HU. He also holds a Master of Science degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Sports Leadership, where he graduated cum laude.