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]
| Awarded for | the national men's college basketball player of the year |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Helms Athletic Foundation |
| History | |
| First award | 1943[a] |
| 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 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
edit| † | Co-Players of the Year |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Helms Player of the Year award at that point |
Winners
editWinners prior to the 1942–43 season were selected retroactively in 1943[7] and 1957.
Christian Steinmetz, Wisconsin, 1905
George Levis, Wisconsin, 1916
Bill Chandler, Wisconsin, 1918
Paul Endacott, Kansas, 1923
Charlie T. Black, Kansas, 1924
Jack Cobb, North Carolina, 1926
Cat Thompson, Montana State, 1929
Charley Hyatt, Pittsburgh, 1930
George Mikan, DePaul, 1944 and 1945
Tony Lavelli, Yale, 1949
Bill Russell, San Francisco, 1955 and 1956
Lennie Rosenbluth, North Carolina, 1957
Cazzie Russell, Michigan, 1966
Lew Alcindor,[b] UCLA, 1967 through 1969
Austin Carr, Notre Dame, 1971
David Thompson, NC State, 1974 and 1975
Mark Aguirre, DePaul, 1981
James Worthy, North Carolina, 1982
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ a b c Drooz, Alan (January 15, 1981). "New Home Being Sought for Southland's Sports Hall of Fame". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. 12. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hall, John (August 31, 1976). "So Help Me". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. Part III, p. 2. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "Ralph Sampson, James Worthy top 1982 college basketball All-America Team selections" (Press release). First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation. April 3, 1982. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. 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.
- ^ "Templeton Makes Public Apology, Rejoins Cardinals for Road Trip". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. September 15, 1981. Part III, p. 4. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Helms Athletic Foundation — Collegiate Basketball Record — Part II" (Press release). Los Angeles: Helms Athletic Foundation. February 1943. p. 10. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
These Basketball Player of the Year selections have been made by Helms Athletic Foundation, following careful study of the performances of outstanding players for each season since 1920. Basketball Player of the Year selections will be made by Helms Athletic Foundation at the conclusion of each season in the future.
- ^ a b c d e Bjarkman, Peter (1996). Hoopla: A Century of College Basketball. Masters Press. pp. 353–355. ISBN 1-57028-039-8.
- ^ a b c d e f "Helms Foundation Player of the Year Winners". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2010. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ Ashford, Ed (April 4, 1950). "Helms Rates Arizin Top Player, CCNY No. 1 Quintet". Lexington Herald-Leader. Lexington, Kentucky. p. 6. Retrieved December 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
Selection of CCNY as the nation's top team was not difficult after the Beavers made an unprecedented sweep of the NIT and NCAA tournaments.
- ^ "Gola Heads Helms Squad". The Mirror. March 30, 1954. Part III, p. 2. Retrieved October 9, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Patterson Named on Helms All-America Court Squad". Tulsa Tribune. Tulsa, Oklahoma. April 7, 1955. p. 34. Retrieved October 9, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Helms Honors All All-American". Evening Vanguard. Venice, California. April 3, 1962. p. 7. Retrieved October 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Thompson, Walton Honored by CSAF". The Times and Democrat. Orangeburg, South Carolina. Associated Press. April 3, 2023. p. 14A. Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
David Thompson of North Carolina State and Bill Walton of UCLA were named college basketball Players of the Year Wednesday by the Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation. It was the third consecutive year Walton was cited.
- ^ "Honors Wilkins as All-American". The Pantagraph. Bloomington–Normal, Illinois. April 6, 1977. p. B3. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Givens selected as top cager". Lexington Herald-Leader. Lexington, Kentucky. April 5, 1978. p. B2. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bird Is Named Player of Year". Omaha World-Herald. Omaha, Nebraska. United Press International. April 1, 1979. p. 6C. Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
Larry Bird was named college basketball's Player of the Year by the Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation. Sophomore Earvin Johnson of NCAA champion Michigan State finished second in the voting.
- ^ "Griffth adds two more awards". Kansas City Times. Kansas City, Missouri. April 1, 1980. p. D4. 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.
- ^ Anderson, Claude (April 7, 1981). "Getting set for run at the roses". The San Bernardino Sun. San Bernardino, California. p. D1. 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.
- ^ "Sitton Chosen to A-A Squad". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Corvallis, Oregon. April 12, 1983. p. 14. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Bender, Jack (June 29, 1983). "It's summer—and basketball is back". The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. Waterloo, Iowa. p. B1. 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 runner-up Houston as its player of the year.
- ^ Keidan, Bruce (February 13, 1973). "Police Protection Fails to Lessen Faith in Religion". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. p. 13. Retrieved October 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Akeem gets the 'H' back in his name". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. March 11, 1991. Retrieved October 31, 2024.