Sports Poets Society

Former Fox Tech basketball player Fennis Dembo talks with Gary DeLaune  on stage while being inducted into the SAISD Athletic Hall of Fame  at Alamo Convocation Center on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018.  Seven stand-out coaches and athletes were inducted into the 2018 class: Dembo (Fox Tech/basketball), Tai Dillard (Sam Houston/basketball), Dolores "Delo" Dyer (Jefferson/volleyball), Darryl Grant (Highlands/football), Cliff Johnson (Wheatley/baseball), David Vela (Burbank/football) and Julius Whittier (Highlands/football) were inducted.Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News Mike Finger , San Antonio Express-News, Staff Writer Aug. 25, 2018 - Updated: Aug. 26, 2018 3 p.m.     If only they knew. Saturday morning, at VIA stops up and down Nogalitos Street, they climbed onto their city bus and walked right past a driver who had made gyms full of people howl and roar 30 years ago, and was about to do it again that very night. Those bus riders could be forgiven for no...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1987/11/18/theyre-jumping-for-joy-all-wyoming-is-wild-about-the-cowboys-whose-fennis-dembo-could-lead-them-to-the-ncaa-title All Wyoming is wild about the Cowboys, whose Fennis Dembo could lead them to the NCAA title Curry Kirkpatrick Sports Illustrated - November 18, 1987 TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT The Deeses of Georgia —Benny from Mount Vernon and Nancy from Alma—are out on the town in Laramie, Wyoming. Wyoming? Well, actually, Lahrmuh, Wyomin', as pronounced by the Deeses, who, since they moved here in April, are never so much understood in Wyomin' as they are believed in. At this moment they can't even be heard above the shrill carousers in Bud's Bar, a tiny wall in the hole across the tracks in Lahrmuh that most flatlanders couldn't find with a canine search party. You have to listen closely to hear that the Deeses are discussing their move to this unique little college town 7,165 feet above sea level or most any place where e...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1997/11/24/wyoming-forward-fennis-dembo-november-18-1987 CATCHING UP WITH...  WYOMING FORWARD FENNIS DEMBO - NOVEMBER 18, 1987 L. Jon Wertheim TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT With apologies to World B. Free, Shaquille O'Neal and, yes, even God Shammgod, when it comes to staking a claim to basketball's alltime name, Fennis Dembo enjoys Jordanlike distance from the pretenders. "I'm always a bit stunned that people still remember me," says Fennis, whose mother, Clarissa, selected his name, along with that of his twin sister, Fenise, as a declaration that after 11 children, her childbearing days were finis. "I tried to set up an E-mail account, but two other guys--basketball fans, I guess--were already using my name in their address." Dembo, a native of San Antonio, and his unforgettable appellation moseyed onto the sports scene more than a decade ago when he established a national profile at Wyoming. A burly 6'6" forwar...

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2021/12/14/fennis-dembo--basketball-star--turned--bus-driver Former basketball star Fennis Dembo is now a city bus driver in San Antonio. (Spectrum News 1/Adam Rossow) BEYOND THE SPORT 'They have no clue': A former bas­ketball star is driving new lanes around San Antonio By Adam Rossow San Antonio PUBLISHED 11:35 AM CT Dec. 14, 2021 SAN ANTONIO — It's another day behind the wheel on the streets of San Antonio. Another trip down memory lane for Fennis Dembo. Dembo has been a bus driver for San Antonio's VIA Transit service the past five years. It's been nearly 35 years since he introduced himself to college basketball fans around the country. “I’ve run into some of my friends and people who've known me and went to school with me," Dembo said. "The normal people, they don't know. They have no clue.” Dembo led an underdog team from the University of Wyoming to the Sweet 16 in the 1987 NCAA men...