Jim Hobbins (born June 4, 1964) is an American former

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who played one season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

and also was a member of the

Green Bay Bombers The Green Bay Bombers was an indoor football team that played in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) in 1998, and in the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 1999 and 2000. The Bombers franchise was owned by Keary Ecklund. The team office w ...

in the

Professional Indoor Football League The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor Foot ...

(PIFL).

Early life

Hobbins was born on June 4, 1964, in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

. He attended

Preble High School Preble High School is a public high school in the Green Bay, Wisconsin School District. The school serves students from Green Bay, Bellevue, and New Franken. The name comes from the former town of Preble, which is now part of northeastern G ...

in Green Bay and is one of four of their alumni to play in the NFL. He was a

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in three sports: football, basketball and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 1981, Hobbins was named first-team all-conference on offense at tackle and second-team on defense at

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; he also was selected first-team (offense) and second-team (defense) all-metro and was a second-team all-state choice. He graduated in 1982 as ninth in a class of 572.

College career

Hobbins enrolled at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and began playing for their Golden Gopher football team after he graduated from Preble. He had been highly recruited and joined Minnesota over offers from other schools such as

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. He saw limited action as a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

but started the season finale against Wisconsin. He became a full-time starter at left tackle in the 1983 season but played for a Golden Gopher team described as "possibly the poorest collegiate team in the country." Hobbins broke his foot on the first day of practice entering the 1984 season and missed the entire year as a

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. He returned as a starter in 1985 and helped Minnesota have one of the top rushing offenses nationally. As a senior in 1986, he remained a starter and was named second-team All-Big Ten Conference, also participating in the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

. During his time at Minnesota, Hobbins was also a first-team Academic All-Big Ten selection. He graduated with a degree in business finance.

Professional career

Hobbins went unselected in the

1987 NFL Draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Marq ...

. He was subsequently signed by the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, attempting to become the first Green Bay native to play for the Packers in 13 years. He was limited by injury throughout the offseason and was released during roster cuts. He signed a strike option contract, however, after being cut, allowing him to re-join the Packers as a

replacement player In professional sports, a replacement player is an athlete who is not a member of the league's players association and plays during a labor dispute such as a strike or lockout, serving as a strikebreaker. Instances of replacement players Nation ...

when the NFLPA went on strike later that season. He made his NFL debut against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

and ultimately started all three strike games as a guard before being released, posting a

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

recovery as his only statistic. Hobbins was then out of football until 11 years later, when he made the roster of the

in the

(PIFL). Nicknamed "Grandpa", he was the oldest player on the team at the age of 34. He earned $200 per game with the Bombers while also working at Arbon Equipment when not playing. He was selected second-team all-league at the end of the season.

Personal life

Hobbins married Amy Lou Murto in January 1986, and they had a child later that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbins, Jim 1964 births Living people Players of American football from Green Bay, Wisconsin American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles American football defensive ends Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Green Bay Packers players National Football League replacement players 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century American people