King Hendricks was born in Richmond, Utah, on September 2, 1900, to James Warren Hendricks and Elizabeth Almira Merrill. He married Hazel Barbara Hartle on February 16, 1923, and graduated from Utah Agricultural College (now Utah State University) that same year. He then began teaching at the Branch Agricultural College (now Southern Utah University), a position he held until 1935. He graduated with a master’s degree from Stanford in 1926 and later attended the University of Berlin from 1929 to 1930. Upon his departure from the Branch Agricultural College, Hendricks returned to Cache Valley where he guided many master’s theses in literature and language studies at Utah State Agricultural College. He got his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1941.

Hendricks served as a librarian, English professor, and an administrator at USAC, and was also a prolific writer. His publications include Yankee Stories and Glimpses of America (1930) with Wilhelm Sundermeyer, Technical Writing (1948) with Laurence Alexander Stoddard, and Communications Skills: The Basic Course (1958) with Hubert W. Smith, Moyle Q. Rice, and Rex E. Robinson. He also edited the Utah State University Monograph Series.

Hendricks was largely responsible for bringing the Jack and Charmian London books and manuscripts to the University. Thanks to his relationship with Irving Shepard, Utah State University now has one of the largest Jack London collections in the world, second only to Huntington Library. His books about London include Creator and Critic, a Controversy between Jack London and Phil M. Buck, Jr. (1962), Letters of Jack London (1965), and Jack London Reports : War Correspondence, Sports Articles, and Miscellaneous Writings (1970).

King Hendricks was affiliated with the American Council of Teachers of English, Utah Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, the American Dialect Society, and the American Committee on Comparative Literature. From 1950 to 1956, he served as a vice-president of the NCAA over region 7, and was also the chairman of the USU Inter-Collegiate Athletics Council. In 1955, he became head of the USU English and Journalism Department.

King Hendricks died on April 19, 1970.