Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year

The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men′s player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in 1936 by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms, the owner of Helms Bakery in Los Angeles.^[1]

Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	the national men's college basketball player of the year
Country	United States
History
First award	1944 (including retroactive awards for 1905–1943)
Final award	1983

The award was first presented in 1944, when the Helms Athletic Foundation announced Schroeder′s player-of-the-year selection for the 1943–44 season as well as his retroactive picks for the player of the year for each season from 1904–05 to 1942–43.^[1] Schroeder then began selecting a player of the year annually.

After Paul Helms' death in 1957, his family continued supporting the foundation until 1969, when the bakeries went out of business.^[2] Schroeder found a new benefactor in United Savings & Loan,^[2] and the foundation's name became United Savings–Helms Athletic Foundation.^[3][4] United merged with Citizens Savings & Loan in 1973, when the foundation became the Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation.^[2] It was again renamed when First Interstate Bank assumed sponsorship and was known as the First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation in the award's final years after 1981.^[5][6] Schroeder made his last player-of-the-year selection for the 1982–83 season, after which the award came to an end.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Player of the Year award at that point

NOTE: Winners prior to the 1943–44 season were selected retroactively in 1944.

Winners

 

In 1944, Christian Steinmetz retroactively was named the award winner for 1905.

 

John Wooden (Purdue), who’s more well known for his coaching career, was retroactively named the winner for the 1931–32 season in 1944.

 

George Mikan of DePaul won in 1944 and 1945.

 

Bill Russell is the only winner from San Francisco.

 

Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) was the only three-time winner.

 

Bill Walton of UCLA was awarded in 1972 and 1973.

 

David Thompson was a two-time winner with NC State in 1974 and 1975.

 

Larry Bird was the recipient of the award in 1979.

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Ref
1904–05	Christian Steinmetz*	Wisconsin	F	Senior	^[7]^[8]
1905–06	George Grebenstein	Dartmouth	F	Junior
1906–07	Gilmore Kinney	Yale	F	Senior
1907–08	Charles Keinath	Pennsylvania	F	Junior
1908–09	John Schommer*	Chicago	C	Senior
1909–10	Harlan "Pat" Page	Chicago	G	Senior
1910–11	Ted Kiendl	Columbia	F	Senior
1911–12	Otto Stangel	Wisconsin	F	Senior
1912–13	Eddie Calder	St. Lawrence	F	Senior
1913–14	Gil Halstead	Cornell	C	Senior
1914–15	Ernest Houghton	Union (NY)	G	Senior
1915–16	George Levis	Wisconsin	F	Senior
1916–17	Ray Woods	Illinois	G	Senior
1917–18	Bill Chandler	Wisconsin	C	Senior
1918–19	Erling Platou	Minnesota	G	Junior
1919–20	Howard Cann*	NYU	F	Senior
1920–21	George Williams	Missouri	C	Senior
1921–22	Chuck Carney	Illinois	C	Senior
1922–23	Paul Endacott*	Kansas	G	Senior
1923–24	Charlie T. Black	Kansas	G	Senior
1924–25	Earl Mueller	Colorado College	C	Senior
1925–26	Jack Cobb	North Carolina	F	Senior
1926–27	Vic Hanson*	Syracuse	F	Senior
1927–28	Victor Holt	Oklahoma	C	Senior
1928–29	John "Cat" Thompson*	Montana State	F	Junior
1929–30	Chuck Hyatt*	Pittsburgh	G	Senior
1930–31	Bart Carlton	Ada Teachers College	G	Senior
1931–32	John Wooden*	Purdue	G	Junior
1932–33	Forest Sale	Kentucky	F / C	Senior
1933–34	Wesley Bennett	Westminster (PA)	C	Senior
1934–35	Leroy Edwards	Kentucky	C	Sophomore
1935–36	John Moir	Notre Dame	F	Sophomore
1936–37	Hank Luisetti	Stanford	F	Sophomore
1937–38	Hank Luisetti* (2)	Stanford	F	Junior
1938–39	Chet Jaworski	Rhode Island	F	Senior
1939–40	George Glamack	North Carolina	C	Junior
1940–41	George Glamack (2)	North Carolina	C	Senior
1941–42	Stan Modzelewski	Rhode Island	G / F	Senior
1942–43	George Senesky	Saint Joseph's	G	Senior
1943–44	George Mikan*	DePaul	C	Junior
1944–45	George Mikan* (2)	DePaul	C	Senior
1945–46	Bob Kurland*	Oklahoma A&M	C	Senior
1946–47	Gerald Tucker	Oklahoma	C	Senior
1947–48	Ed Macauley*	Saint Louis	C	Junior
1948–49	Tony Lavelli	Yale	F	Senior
1949–50	Paul Arizin*	Villanova	F	Senior
1950–51	Dick Groat	Duke	G	Junior
1951–52	Clyde Lovellette*	Kansas	F / C	Senior
1952–53	Bob Houbregs*	Washington	C	Senior
1953–54	Tom Gola*	La Salle	G / F	Senior
1954–55	Bill Russell*	San Francisco	C	Junior
1955–56	Bill Russell* (2)	San Francisco	C	Senior
1956–57	Lennie Rosenbluth	North Carolina	F	Senior
1957–58	Elgin Baylor*	Seattle	F / C	Junior
1958–59	Oscar Robertson*	Cincinnati	G	Junior
1959–60	Oscar Robertson* (2)	Cincinnati	G	Senior
1960–61	Jerry Lucas*	Ohio State	F / C	Junior
1961–62	Paul Hogue	Cincinnati	C	Senior
1962–63	Art Heyman	Duke	G	Senior
1963–64	Walt Hazzard	UCLA	G	Senior
1964–65^†	Bill Bradley*	Princeton	G / F	Senior
	Gail Goodrich*	UCLA	G	Senior
1965–66	Cazzie Russell	Michigan	G / F	Senior
1966–67	Lew Alcindor*	UCLA	C	Sophomore
1967–68	Lew Alcindor* (2)	UCLA	C	Junior
1968–69	Lew Alcindor* (3)	UCLA	C	Senior
1969–70^†	Pete Maravich*	LSU	G	Senior
	Sidney Wicks	UCLA	F / C	Junior
1970–71^†	Austin Carr	Notre Dame	G	Senior
	Sidney Wicks (2)	UCLA	F / C	Senior
1971–72	Bill Walton*	UCLA	C	Junior
1972–73	Bill Walton* (2)	UCLA	C	Senior
1973–74	David Thompson*	NC State	G / F	Junior
1974–75	David Thompson* (2)	NC State	G / F	Senior
1975–76^†	Kent Benson	Indiana	C	Junior
	Scott May	Indiana	F	Senior
1976–77	Marques Johnson	UCLA	G	Senior	^[9]
1977–78	Jack Givens	Kentucky	G / F	Senior	^[10]
1978–79	Larry Bird*	Indiana State	F	Senior	^[11]
1979–80	Darrell Griffith	Louisville	G	Senior	^[12]
1980–81	Mark Aguirre	DePaul	F	Sophomore	^[13]
1981–82^†	Ralph Sampson*	Virginia	C	Junior	^[5]
	James Worthy*	North Carolina	F	Junior
1982–83	Akeem Olajuwon*	Houston	C	Sophomore	^[14]^[15]

See also

• List of U.S. men's college basketball national player of the year awards

References

1. Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved 4 May 2021.
2. Drooz, Alan (January 15, 1981). "New Home Being Sought for Southland's Sports Hall of Fame". Los Angeles Times. p. 12. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Hall, John (August 31, 1976). "So Help Me". Los Angeles Times. Part III, p. 2. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Raymond Lewis, Verbum Dei Guard, Named Top CIF 'AAA' Basketball Player For '71 Season" (Press release). United Savings–Helms Athletic Foundation. March 24, 1971. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
5. "RALPH SAMPSON, JAMES WORTHY TOP 1982 COLLEGE BASKETBALL ALL-AMERICA TEAM SELECTIONS" (Press release). First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation. April 3, 1982. Retrieved May 2, 2020. Virginia's 7' 4" center, RALPH SAMPSON, and North Carolina's 6• 9" forward, JAMES WORTHY, have been chosen College Basketball's Co-Players of the Year for the 1982 season, by First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation.
6. "Templeton Makes Public Apology, Rejoins Cardinals for Road Trip". Los Angeles Times. September 15, 1981. Part III, p. 4. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Helms Foundation Player of the Year Winners". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2010. from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
8. Bjarkman, Peter (1996). Hoopla: A Century of College Basketball. Masters Press. ISBN 1-57028-039-8.
9. "Honors Wilkins as All-American". The Daily Pantagraph. April 6, 1977. p. B-3. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Givens selected as top cager". The Lexington Leader. April 5, 1978. p. B-2. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "AHL Game Is Postponed by Nuclear Plant Accident". Los Angeles Times. April 1, 1979. Part III, p. 4. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Griffth adds two more awards". The Kansas City Times. April 1, 1980. p. D-4. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Griffith has also been named college basketball player of the year by Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles an award that goes back to 1905.
13. Anderson, Claude (April 7, 1981). "Getting set for run at the roses". The Sun. pp. D-1, D-5. Retrieved May 2, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. DePaul's Mark Aguirre was player-of-the-year and UC Irvine's Kevin Magee (the only other Southlander selected) made it at a forward.
14. "Sitton Chosen to A-A Squad". Corvallis Gazette Times. April 12, 1983. p. 14. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
15. Bender, Jack (June 29, 1983). "It's summer—and basketball is back". Waterloo Courier. p. B-1. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. And only the Athletic Foundation funded by First Interstate Bank (formerly the Helms awards) picked Akeem Abdul Olajuwon of NCAA runnerup Houston as its player of the year.

External links

• Helms Foundation Player of the Year Winner at Sports-Reference.com