DSU HONORS ROBERT VANDERHOST AS ITS 2018 ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR
Delaware State University recently honored Robert P. Vanderhost, DSU Class of 1972, as its 2018 Alumnus of the Year.
Mr. Vanderhost was honored along with the alumni honorees from other schools of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference on March 8 during the MEAC Basketball Tournament held in Norfolk, Va. Later that evening, the Hornet family celebrated him at a DSU reception afterwards.
After serving his country in the military, Mr. Vanderhost enrolled at then-Delaware State College in 1967. He joined DSC Hornet basketball team. As a starter and twice an All-CIAA selection, he averaged more than 19 points a game and became a member of Delaware State’s 1,000-point club. His college career was also highlighted by two All-CIAA selections. He averaged better than 19 points per game with the Hornets.
In 1970, he was selected as the team’s Most Outstanding Player. He also served one year as an assistant coach of the team. Mr. Vanderhost became a 2012 inductee of the DSU Athletics Hall of Fame .
After finishing his playing career, Vanderhost served as an assistant coach with the Hornets during the 1970-1971 season.
His professional career included stints as a teacher in the Philadelphia Public
Schools, a juvenile gang worker with the Crime Prevention Association, a private investigator, and assistant director of the Wilmington Housing Authority. He also managed a series of nationally known entertainers. Mr. Vanderhost has also done volunteer work with the Philadelphia Youth Athletic Association, Delaware Youth Athletic Association, as well as serve as a coach in the Philadelphia Sonny Hill and Baker Leagues.
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He has also mentored students in Delaware’s Red Clay Consolidated School District and remains active as a board member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Sports and Culture Inc. and member of DSU’s New Castle County Alumni Chapter
Mr. Vanderhost met his wife Cecelia, his college sweetheart, at Delaware State; their union produced two children.