Paul James Hoffman (May 5, 1925 – November 12, 1998) was an American professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player.
High school and college career
Hoffman, a 6'2"
guard
Guard or guards may refer to:
Professional occupations
* Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault
* Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street
* Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning
* Prison ...
/
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
, attended Jasper High School in
Jasper, Indiana
Jasper is a city in, and the county seat of, Dubois County, Indiana, United States, located along the Patoka River. The population was 16,703 at the 2020 census making it the 48th largest city in Indiana. On November 4, 2007, Dubois County retur ...
from 1939 to 1943;
his coach was the legendary Cabby O'Neill. After high school, he attended
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, where he played under head coach
Ward Lambert
Ward Louis "Piggy" Lambert (May 28, 1888 – January 20, 1958) was an American basketball and baseball coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Purdue University during the 1916–17 season and from 1918 to 1946. Lambert was also the head ...
. He became the only four time First Team-All Big Ten selection in
Boilermaker
A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...
history and one of the first two players to be selected in the
NBA draft with teammate
Bulbs Ehlers
Edwin Sheffield "Bulbs" Ehlers (March 10, 1923 – June 17, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. Standing and weighing 198 pounds (90 kg), he played the forward and guard positions. Ehlers was drafted third overall in t ...
. He led Purdue in scoring all four seasons and won the MVP award for his performance in the 1947 All-American All-Star game at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
. Hoffman was a three-time second team Helms Foundation All-American
Professional playing career
Hoffman was drafted by the
Toronto Huskies
The Toronto Huskies were a team in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which was a forerunner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), during the 1946–47 season. They were based in Toronto. The team compiled a 22–38 win–loss r ...
in the
1947 BAA draft, but never played for the team as it folded before the season began. He instead signed with the
Baltimore Bullets, and averaged 10.5 points per game in his rookie season and was named
NBA Rookie of the Year
The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season. Initiated following the 1952–53 NBA season, it confers the Eddie Gottl ...
—a designation not currently sanctioned by the NBA for the 1947–48 season. The Bullets went on to win the
1948 BAA Finals and were crowned BAA champions. Hoffman wanted to have his salary raised following his successful debut season, but the team refused, so Hoffman left to return to Indiana and become a salesman at
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...
. Hoffman re-signed with the team for the
1949–50 season.
After playing for five seasons with the Bullets, the team disbanded in November 1954, fourteen games into the
1954–55 season. Hoffman was selected by the
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
in the dispersal draft. He only played for the Knicks for less than two months before being sold to the
Philadelphia Warriors. Hoffman retired from playing basketball after the season. He averaged 10.2 points, 2.9 assists and 5.1 rebounds over his career.
[Paul Hoffman Stats]
Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 7, 2017.
Coaching career
From 1956 to 1959, he was head baseball coach at Purdue, replacing
Hank Stram
Henry Louis Stram (; January 3, 1923 – July 4, 2005) was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NF ...
; his career totals were 52–49–2 (.505) all games and 18–30–1 (.367) in Big Ten Conference games. He was replaced as the head baseball coach by former Boilermaker star
Joe Sexson
Joe Sexson (March 29, 1934 – April 30, 2011) was an American college basketball coach. He was the men's head coach at Butler Bulldogs, Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 1978 to 1989. He was the head baseball coach at Purdue ...
. He also worked as an assistant for the basketball team under head coach
Ray Eddy.
Later years
He served as general manager for the
Baltimore Bullets.
from June 1963 through May 1965; the Bullets recorded an overall record of 68–92 (.425) and reached the NBA Western Division Finals in the 1964–65 season.
[ ]
In 1977, he was inducted into the
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame
The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is a sports museum and hall of fame in New Castle, Indiana. While it honors men and women associated with high school, college, and professional basketball in Indiana, an emphasis is placed on the athlete's high ...
. In 1993, at age 68, he was named to the named to the Indiana All-Stars, for the 1942–43 season. The All-Stars, an all High School Senior team, are named at the conclusion of the school year; the team originated in 1939. However, World War II, kept a team from being named and staging the annual 2-game series with the State of Kentucky. The
Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
sponsored the team for decades and the
Lions Club
The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, ...
was the largest recipient of charitable donations from the series.
[
He died of a brain tumor at age 73 in 1998.][
]
BAA/NBA career statistics
Regular season
Playoffs
References
External links
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Paul
1925 births
1998 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) players
Basketball coaches from Indiana
Basketball players from Indiana
New York Knicks players
People from Jasper, Indiana
Philadelphia Warriors players
Purdue Boilermakers baseball coaches
Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball coaches
Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players
Shooting guards
Small forwards
Toronto Huskies draft picks