{{Short description|Retired American expatriate professional basketball player}} {{Infobox basketball biography | image = | caption = | name = Tank Collins | career_position = Power forward | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 5 | weight_lbs = 215 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|1|28}} | birth_place = Pomona, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | high_school = Pomona (Pomona, California) | college = * Salt Lake CC (1987–1989) * New Orleans (1989–1991) | draft_year = 1991 | career_start = 1991 | career_end = 1993 | years1 = 1991 | team1 = Bakersfield Jammers | years2 = 1992 | team2 = Huntsville Lasers | years3 = 1992 | team3 = Presto Ice Cream | years4 = 1992–1993 | team4 = Yakima Sun Kings | years5 = 1993 | team5 = Halifax Windjammers | awards = * CBA All-Star (1993) * American South Player of the Year (1991) * First-team All-American South (1991) }} '''Derwin F. "Tank" Collins'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/derwin_f_collins_born_1969_10509368|title=Derwin F Collins was born on January 28, 1969 in Los Angeles County, California|website=californiabirthindex.org|publisher=California Birth Index|access-date=May 8, 2020}}</ref> (born January 28, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for Presto Ice Cream in the Philippine Basketball Association but is best known for his high school and college careers in the United States.
==Early life and high school== A native of Pomona, California, Collins was not athletic as a child and gave up playing sports.<ref name=WINNER>{{cite news| last = Raser| first = Derek|title = The Making of a Winner : Tank Collins Almost Gave Up, but His Family Showed Him the Way| newspaper = Los Angeles Times| date = August 28, 1986| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-28-ga-13771-story.html|access-date = October 15, 2011}}</ref> When he was in seventh grade, Collins' father suddenly died. His mother forced him to play basketball to distract him from the death during the summer between his seventh and eighth grade years and would even play Tank herself.<ref name=WINNER/> She would beat him in one-on-one until he became too good, at which point his older brothers began playing physically with Tank. This laid the foundation for his aggressive style which would come to benefit him later.<ref name=WINNER/>
By the time he got to high school, Collins was utilizing his {{convert|6|ft|5|in|m|adj=on}}, {{convert|215|lb|kg|adj=on}} stature to dominate his opponents.<ref name=WINNER/> He earned the nickname "Tank" from his physique and physicality.<ref name=WINNER/> One coach said, "He's like a 500-pound gorilla. He can do anything he wants."<ref name=WINNER/> Collins kept improving, learned to shoot accurately from beyond 15 feet and quickly became one of the most sought-after high school recruits in California.<ref name=WINNER/>
During his senior year at Pomona High School, however, he was declared academically ineligible to play most of the season due to poor grades.<ref name=INELIG>{{cite news| last = Polin| first = Mitch |title = Academic Ax Falls on Tank, Stops Cage Star in His Tracks| newspaper = Los Angeles Times| date = January 22, 1987| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-22-ga-124-story.html|access-date = October 15, 2011}}</ref> Through his first seven games he had been averaging 28.6 points and 17.1 rebounds per game.<ref name=INELIG/> Collins claimed that his focus on basketball as well as the attention he was receiving from 100+ college scouts distracted him from concentrating on his classwork.<ref name=INELIG/> He did manage to play in the final few games of the season, but he had already proven himself enough to college recruiters where it did not affect his desirability to college recruiters.<ref name=INELIG/>
==College and later life== Tank Collins had to play basketball at a junior college for two seasons to improve his grades before he was able to play NCAA Division I basketball. After his brief junior college career, he chose to play basketball for the Privateers of the University of New Orleans (UNO). Between 1989–90 and 1990–91, Collins helped guide UNO to a period of great success. The Privateers won American South Conference (ASC) regular season championships, outright or shared, in both years Collins played.<ref name=ENCY>{{Cite book| last = ((ESPN Editors))| title = ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game| publisher = Random House, Inc.| year = 2009| location = New York, NY| pages = 314–315| isbn = 978-0-345-51392-2}}</ref> Their season records were:<ref name=ENCY/> *1989–90 season — 21–11 (8–2 ASC) → co-regular season and ASC conference tournament champions *1990–91 season — 23–8 (9–3 ASC) → co-regular season champions
New Orleans also qualified for NCAA postseason tournaments in each of his two seasons. They earned a berth into the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1990 and advanced to the quarterfinal round.<ref name=ENCY/> In Collins' senior season he led UNO in scoring with a 17.3 points per game average.<ref name=ENCY/> They advanced to the 1991 NCAA Tournament but lost to Kansas, 55–49, in the opening round. To conclude his collegiate career, Tank was named the American South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year.<ref>{{cite web| title = Catalina, Collins earn ASC honors| work = The Advocate (Baton Rouge)| publisher = NewsLibrary.com| date = March 7, 1991| url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AD&p_theme=ad&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4764568EAC17D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM| accessdate = October 15, 2011}}</ref>
==Professional career== Collins started his professional career with the Bakersfield Jammers of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) until the team folded in December 1991.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Craig |title=Bakersfield franchise folds |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/quad-city-times-bakersfield-franchise-fo/174915089/ |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=Quad-City Times |date=December 31, 1991 |page=31 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He averaged 18.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 23 games played.<ref name=sc>{{cite web |title=Tank Collins minor league basketball statistics |url=https://www.statscrew.com/minorbasketball/stats/p-collitan001 |website=Stats Crew |access-date=June 20, 2025}}</ref> On January 14, 1992, Collins was acquired by the Huntsville Lasers of the Global Basketball Association (GBA).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Rick |title=Turner turns up to give Lasers some offensive help |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-huntsville-times-turner-turns-up-to/174912725/ |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=The Huntsville Times |date=January 15, 1992 |page=24 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> On February 5, he departed the Lasers after he received an offer to play in the Philippines.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lasers' Collins headed for Philippines |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-huntsville-times-lasers-collins-hea/174912762/ |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=The Huntsville Times |date=February 5, 1992 |page=22 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Collins played for Presto Ice Cream in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) during the 1992 PBA First Conference.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nazareno |first1=Rocky |title=Presto powders P'foods |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=so8VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PQsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3691%2C437535 |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=Manila Standard |date=March 2, 1992 |page=31}}</ref>
Collins joined the Utah Jazz for the 1992 NBA Summer League.<ref>{{cite news |title=Howard, Austin Lead Jazz Rout |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salt-lake-tribune-howard-austin-lea/174912538/ |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=August 7, 1992 |page=60 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He played for the Yakima Sun Kings of the CBA for the 1992–93 season.<ref name=tf>{{cite news |title=Fever obtain CBA All-Star from Yakima |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-forum-fever-obtain-cba-all-star-from/174914676/ |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=The Forum |date=September 18, 1993 |page=31 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Collins averaged 20.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and was selected to the 1993 CBA All-Star Game.<ref name=tf/>
Collins played for the Halifax Windjammers of the Canadian National Basketball League (NBL) during the 1993 season.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bezanson |first1=Steve |title=Second-half sprint sends Halifax past Slam |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-phoenix-second-half-sprint-sends-ha/174915837/ |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=Star-Phoenix |date=May 8, 1993 |page=13 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> On September 16, 1993, Collins was traded by the Yakima Sun Kings to the Fargo-Moorhead Fever.<ref name=tf/> He was expected to miss the start of the season due to a knee injury that he suffered during his stint in Canada.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kolpack |first1=Jeff |title=Never enough |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-forum-never-enough/174912632/ |access-date=June 20, 2025 |work=The Forum |date=September 20, 1993 |page=11 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{American South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Tank}} Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:American expatriate basketball people in Canada Category:American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines Category:American men's basketball players Category:Bakersfield Jammers players Category:Basketball players from Los Angeles County, California Category:Great Taste Coffee Makers players Category:New Orleans Privateers men's basketball players Category:Philippine Basketball Association imports Category:Power forwards Category:Salt Lake Bruins men's basketball players Category:Sportspeople from Pomona, California Category:Yakima Sun Kings players