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 player in the United States. The award was first given following the 1904–05 season and ceased being awarded after the 1982–83 season. It was the first major most valuable player (MVP) award for men's basketball in the United States, and the Helms Athletic Foundation was considered within the basketball community to be the authority on men's college basketball for that era. Thus, the award was viewed as the premier player of the year award one could receive up until the 1960s, at which point the Naismith College Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Award took over as the national season MVP awards.
Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year | |
---|---|
Given for | the national men's college basketball player of the year |
Country | United States |
History | |
First award | 1905 |
Final award | 1983 |
The foundation was founded by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms, who owned Helms Bakery. After Paul Helms' death in 1957, his family continued supporting the foundation until 1969, when the bakeries went out of business.[1] Schroeder found a new benefactor in United Savings & Loan,[1] and the foundation's name became United Savings–Helms Athletic Foundation.[2][3] United merged with Citizens Savings & Loan in 1973, when the foundation became the Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation.[1] 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.[4][5]
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 |
Winners
References
- 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.
- Hall, John (August 31, 1976). "So Help Me". Los Angeles Times. 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.
- "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.
- "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.
- "Helms Foundation Player of the Year Winners". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2010. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- Bjarkman, Peter (1996). Hoopla: A Century of College Basketball. Masters Press. ISBN 1-57028-039-8.
- "Honors Wilkins as All-American". The Daily Pantagraph. April 6, 1977. p. B-3. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Givens selected as top cager". The Lexington Leader. April 5, 1978. p. B-2. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "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.
- "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.
- 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.
- "Sitton Chosen to A-A Squad". Corvallis Gazzete Times. April 12, 1983. p. 14. Retrieved December 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- 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