In high school, as an all-round athlete he participated in track, football and basketball, and excelled as a YMCA swimmer.

[1] Graduating in 1941, he was a swimming All American specializing in freestyle and backstroke at Napierville's North Central College, though never an Olympian.

When his military service ended, he was instrumental in developing the education program for Red Cross swimming.

Greatly enhancing his knowledge of the sport of swimming, he coached the swim team at Monmouth College in his spare time, and later served 12 highly successful years volunteering as a coach for North Central College, his alma mater.

This is the same organization known as FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur), for which he was both Secretary and became the first U.S-born President.

Prior to Henning's acquiring the role of president of the International Swimming Federation from 1972 to 1976, the FINA Bureau agreed to hold its first World Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

[1] Henning's wife Jean, who he married on September 6, 1941, was an author and a 1941 graduate of North Central College.

For his advocacy of athletics and swimming, he received a Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater North Central College in November 1963.