| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1956-04-25)25 April 1956 (age 69) |
| Listed height | 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) |
| Listed weight | 95 kg (209 lb) |
| Career information | |
| High school |
|
| College |
|
| NBA draft | 1979: 5th round, 101st overall pick |
| Drafted by | Atlanta Hawks |
| Playing career | 1979–1992, 1995 |
| Position | Power forward /center |
| Career history | |
| 1979–1980 | Hapoel Jerusalem |
| 1984–1985 | Turun NMKY |
| 1985–1986 | Sydney Supersonics |
| 1987–1992 | Perth Wildcats |
| 1995 | Illawarra Hawks |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Stats atBasketball Reference  | |
Kendal Nathaniel "Tiny"Pinder (born 25 April 1956)[1] is a Bahamian former professionalbasketball player. He moved to the United States as a teenager and attendedMiami Northwestern Senior High School in Florida. Pinder playedcollege basketball for theEast Tennessee State Buccaneers,Miami Dade Sharks andNC State Wolfpack. He started his professional career with stints in Israel and Finland; he also spent three seasons with theHarlem Globetrotters.
Pinder moved to Australia in 1985 to play in theNational Basketball League (NBL) with theSydney Supersonics and was selected to theAll-NBL Team when he led the league in scoring during his first season. He joined thePerth Wildcats in 1987 and won twoNBL championships with the team in 1990 and 1991. Pinder's career was interrupted in 1992 when he was imprisoned for sexual assault offences. He was released in 1995 and had his final basketball stint with theIllawarra Hawks that same year.
Pinder has since spent periods in prison for various offences. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 1996 for sexual assault charges involving a teenager. Pinder was imprisoned in 2021 for 15 months after being convicted of stalking a woman. In 2024, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for two sexual assaults that occurred in 2009 and 2021.
Pinder was born inThe Bahamas where he was raised inNassau andFreeport.[2] He was nicknamed "Tiny" by his grandmother because he was small when he was young.[2][3] He was a victim of violence as a child.[4] Pinder fell through a plate glass window at the age of 12 and suffered head injuries that were potentially linked to longstanding cognitive issues.[5] He started playing basketball as a teenager.[2]
Pinder attended Hawksbill High School in Freeport from 1968 to 1972.[6] He was enrolled under the name "Nathaniel Forbes" using his father's surname.[6] Pinder did not attend school for one year.[2]
Pinder moved toMiami, Florida, to earn acollege basketball scholarship.[2] He changed his name to "Kendal Pinder" upon his arrival for unexplained reasons.[3] Pinder enrolled atMiami Northwestern Senior High School in 1973 but was declared ineligible to play on the basketball team during his first season because his family did not accompany him during his move.[2] He became eligible for the 1974–75 season where he was a junior in class standing but a senior in eligibility because of the year he missed in the Bahamas.[2] Pinder averaged 19 points per game and led Northwestern to a 25–5 record on their way to a Greater Miami Athletic Conference championship.[6]
A 1976 investigation byThe Miami News concluded that Pinder was likely ineligible to play during the 1974–75 season.[6] Northwestern received records from Hawksbill that were "grossly incomplete and, perhaps, inaccurate."[6] Pinder claimed that he was in tenth grade at Hawksbill during the 1971–72 school year which meant that his Northwestern eligibility expired after the 1973–74 school year; a student became ineligible for athletics in Florida four years from the time he first entered ninth grade.[6]
On 29 April 1975, Pinder signed to playcollege basketball for theEast Tennessee State Buccaneers.[7] He played one season with the team and then departed because he was not happy with the coach.[3] Pinder chose to transfer toMiami Dade College because he would have been required to sit out a year if he joined another four-year school.[3] He averaged 18.6 points and 12 rebounds per game during the 1976–77 season at Miami Dade.[8]
On April 29, 1977, Pinder signed to join theNC State Wolfpack.[8] He averaged 11.2 points per game from 1977 to 1979.[9]
Pinder was selected in the fifth round of the1979 NBA draft by theAtlanta Hawks.[10]
For the 1979–80 season, Pinder played in Israel forHapoel Jerusalem.[11] He was theIsraeli Premier League'stop scorer, with a total of 586 points scored.[12]
Between 1980 and 1983, Pinder performed with theHarlem Globetrotters.[13]
For the 1984–85 season, Pinder played in Finland forTurun NMKY. His 32.8 points per game was second in theKorisliiga, while his 14.8 rebounds per game led the league.[14]
Pinder followed his Turun head coach, Paul Coughter, to theSydney Supersonics of the AustralianNational Basketball League (NBL) in 1985.[15] He was named to theAll-NBL Team[16] andled the league in scoring during his first season.[17]
In 1987, Pinder joined thePerth Wildcats.[18] He was named the Wildcats' Club MVP in 1989 and helped the Wildcats win back-to-backNBL championships in 1990 and 1991.[19] His final season with the Wildcats came in 1992.[18] He was named in the Wildcats' 30th Anniversary All-Star Team.[20]
In 1995, Pinder had a five-game stint with theIllawarra Hawks, which marked his final NBL season.[18]
Pinder has 12 children.[21] His son,Keanu, is also a professional basketball player.[22]
Pinder hascognitive impairment in thefrontal lobe and possesses the cognitive level of a 14-year-old.[5]
Pinder was granted Australian citizenship in 1986; however his citizenship was revoked in 2007.[23] Following the cancellation of his Australian citizenship, Pinder was on an ex-citizen visa that enabled him to remain in Australia but did not allow him to return should he leave.[23] TheDepartment of Immigration and Border Protection cancelled his visa in 2017, but it was overturned in 2019 by theAdministrative Appeals Tribunal despite acknowledgment that Pinder did not pass the character test.[23] Pinder's visa was again cancelled in 2024.[5]
In 1976, Pinder was found guilty of unlawful carnal knowledge of a teenage girl inMiami,Florida. He was given five years probation.[24][25]
In 1992, Pinder faced charges of attempted sexual assault. He was convicted by theWestern Australian Supreme Court and was sentenced to 18 months' jail.[26][27] In the following year he was also found guilty of raping a 23-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl; the three offences had occurred between 1988 and 1990.[24] He was released from prison in 1995.[24] In 1996, he was sentenced to five years' jail for sexual offences involving a 15-year-old girl.[28][29]
In 2001, Pinder was acquitted in theNew South Wales District Court on a charge of raping a 19-year-old woman the previous year.[30] In 2013, he was arrested on a charge relating to an alleged rape in 1987 but was cleared in August 2016.[31]
In 2021, Pinder was arrested and charged with stalking a woman in Sydney. He was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment.[32] In April 2023, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault that occurred in November 2009 and March 2021.[24] In March 2024, he was sentenced to eight years' prison for the two assaults; the backdated sentence took into account his time in custody and could see him released as early as October 2026.[5] The judge noted Pinder's impaired cognitive function in deciding his sentence, which had a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.[5]
Pinder was assaulted in prison in 2021 and 2023, requiring him to undergoCT andMRI scans for his injuries.[4]
The 203cm tall Pinder – also known as Tiny – performed with the Harlem Globetrotters from 1980 to 1983 before playing in the Australian NBL...