In January of 1939, in a basketball game in which Green Creek High School played Sunny View, Aileen Cudd Henderson scored 99 points, the most ever scored in a single game in a sanctioned high school basketball tournament. She later led Green Creek to a district title in 1941.

Congressman Heath Shuler visited White Oak Manor in Tryon Saturday to give Henderson a plaque recognizing her accomplishment. The plaque (see p. 3) shows a page from the “Congressional Record” that honors “Aileen Cudd Henderson for setting a high school basketball all time record.”

The plaque attests that the feat has been recognized by the U.S. Congress and will forever be part of the permanent records of the United States.

Henderson, who is currently a resident at White Oak Manor,&bsp; had scored 32 points in the first half of the game in which she set the record. Usually the coach, Louis Nanney (who later served as mayor of Rutherfordton), would have taken her out for the rest of the game, but for some reason he didn’t, and Henderson went on to score 67 points in the second half. She ended up with 45 field goals and nine free throws for a total of 99 points.

Henderson’s sister, Annie Belle, was also a basketball star for Green Creek. In 1948, she scored 115 points in five games during a Valdese tournament and won the award for the player who scored the most points.

Henderson went on to play semi-pro basketball for the Hanes Mill team (Greensboro, N.C.) in the former International Industrial League. Annie Belle was offered a similar contract but declined so that she could care for their ailing grandparents.

During his visit to Polk County last weekend, Congressman Shuler also visited the tailgate market in Columbus, the Democratic breakfast held at the Polk County Democratic headquarters in Columbus, and the reading of the Constitution on the courthouse lawn.