Biography

At the age of eleven Delme Herriman fell in love with basketball. After watching his idol Will Brown play for Warrington FSO Vikings, he was soon spending all his time practicing in his back yard.

He played for his first team at the under thirteen level, in Manchester, England (thirty miles from his hometown of Widnes). Dominating the Greater Manchester Area Competition, the Manchester United team went from strength to strength and Delme rose through the ranks to Captain the Under 17s Team, also playing on a National level for Salford Cadets, and the Manchester Eagles Cadets.

Delme had been dreaming of going to America to play high school and College ball since he was fourteen. Following a guest-coaching stint at the West Point Academy, his brother, Gideon, met Claymont High Head Coach Jim Riley, and via the generous sponsorship of the International Rotary Club, Delme was welcomed as an exchange student in Uhrichsville, Ohio:

Delme headed out to the States in June 1990. A visit to his friend, University of Tennessee Assistant Coach Dean Lockwood, sparked another enduring friendship with future NBA All Star, and Olympian, Allan Houston.

Delme’s first season in American basketball saw him lead Claymont High School’s Mustangs to a perfect unbeaten conference record. He completed his triumphant year playing in the District 5 All Star Game where he was spotted and subsequently recruited by Wright State University Assistant Coach, Jim Brown.

Delme fulfilled his dream of signing a letter of intent to a Division One school, on a full scholarship, being one of the first English players to receive this honour. After red-shirting in his first year, Delme quickly became a starter, and helped the Wright State Raiders win the 1993 Conference Tournament over U.I.C. and get that ellusive golden ticket to the NCAA ‘Big Dance’.

Delme started as a freshman against the Indiana Hoosiers, ranked No.1 in the nation, in front of 42,000 fans. Delme started for the rest of his career at WSU, and at the small forward position was an extremely solid role player. He averaged 10 points and 6 rebounds a game for his career, with some of his best games against the Top 25 ranked team, Xavier: 22 points and 8 rebounds and 16 points and 7 rebounds. He also narrowly missed a triple-double, twice: 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists against Toledo. 17 points, 9 boards and 8 assists, against Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Delme finished his career at WSU as second All-Time in Games played, and 3rd All-Time in minutes played. But he lives forever in the memory of Raiders’ fans for hitting ‘The Shot’; the basket which saw WSU’s 71-70 victory over No.25 Ranked Xavier in the 1995 MCC Tournament, with just 1.1 seconds remaining.

Delme signed a lucrative contract in Italy’s top division in 1996, becoming the First ever Englishman to play in Italy’s Premier League.

An 8-year Professional career throughout Europe ensued, seeing Delme ply his trade in Belgium, Holland, Germany, France and Austria. He returned to England in 2004 at the age of 31, deciding he wanted to be closer to home and play in England. He played in his first year on home turf for the Chester Jets, leading them to their first ever BBL League Championship in 2005. He then played for the Manchester Magic, Leicester Riders and the Everton Tigers.

In 2009 Delme retired from Top-Flight basketball and decided to focus on coaching; however his enduring love for the sport saw him keep on playing, this time for Division Two club Glyndwr Nets/Warrington Wolves. Alongside his career in Club Basketball, Delme was an English National Men'sTeam stalwart, earning 77 International Caps, 7th All-Time. He retired from National Team responsibilities in 2006, following the team’s Bronze Medal winning achievements at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Delme also tried his hand at the phenomenon of Midnight Madness. Founded by Nhamo Shire, and sponsored by Nike, Midnight Madness pits the UK’s best street-ballers head-to-head for the ultimate prize: to play on the US stage in a Summer League Tournament. Delme captained the team on their 2006 trip to Chicago where he was also crowned Joint M.V.P, enjoying 24 points and 11 rebounds in the decisive single-point victory over one of Chicago’s best Pro Am teams. The following summer saw Delme finish 2nd overall in the National Competition, and be rewarded with a weeklong trip to Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Widely regarded as one of the most versatile players in the history of UK basketball, he has started International games at the 1, 2, 3 and 4 positions, a reputation, which has earned him a legend as Mr Versatility.