Howard Andrew "Hobby" Hobson (July 4, 1903 – June 9, 1991) was an American

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 (appro ...

player and coach of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, basketball, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. He served as the head basketball coach at Southern Oregon Normal School—now

Southern Oregon University Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...

—from 1932 to 1935, at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

from 1935 to 1944 and again from 1945 to 1947, and at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

from 1947 to 1956, compiling a career

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

record of 401–257. Hobson's 1938–39 Oregon basketball team won the inaugural NCAA basketball tournament. Hobson authored numerous books on the subject of basketball. He was also the head football coach at Southern Oregon for 1932 to 1934, tallying a mark of 12–7–1, and the head baseball coach at Oregon from 1936 to 1947, amassing a record of 167–75–1. Hobson was inducted into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

as a coach in 1965.

Playing career

Hobson played

for four years at Franklin High School in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, from which he graduated in 1922. During his time there, he was team captain for two years, and led the state championship-winning team in 1921. He was captain of the

's basketball team from 1924 to 1926, and in 1925, his team tied Oregon State for the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...

title. However, they lost in the playoffs. A year later, the team won the conference title, but lost to the

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the playoffs. This 1926 team was nevertheless undefeated in the conference, with a win record of 10–0. In the same year, he graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree. He went on to obtain a master's degree in 1929 and a doctorate in 1945, both from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Coaching career

Hobson began his coaching career at Kelso High School in Kelso, Washington in 1928, where his team won the league championship. In 1929, he was the head football coach at the Cortland Normal School, now known as State University of New York College at Cortland. From 1930 to 1932, he coached Benson High School in Portland. They won the championship in his final year there. Hobson subsequently led Southern Oregon Normal School to three consecutive league championship victories from 1933 to 1935. In 1936, Hobson took over as head basketball coach of the University of Oregon Ducks, leading them to three consecutive

titles from 1937 to 1939, culminating in the first-ever NCAA basketball championship in 1939. His 1939 team was known as the "Tall Firs" because of their size: the players averaged about six feet in height, which was considered very tall for a basketball player at the time. Hobson coached Oregon's basketball and baseball teams from 1936 to 1947, when he left to coach basketball at

. He coached at Yale until 1956, during which time his teams won or shared five Big Three crowns (in 1948, 1949, 1951, 1953, and 1956). The 1949 team was the first NCAA Tournament entry in the school's history and won the

Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League was an athletic conference for men's college basketball, beginning with the 1901–02 season and ending with the 1954–55 season. Its membership ranged from four to eight members; all of these te ...

title for the first time in 16 years.

Legacy

Hobson was the first coach to win championships at a major college level on both coasts. He also pioneered intersectional play at Oregon, making the Ducks the first Western team to travel East for games. He repeated this type of intersectional play at Yale, and the 1948–49 team was the first Yale team to appear on the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

. His overall record for 27 years as a coach was 495–291. In 1947, Hobson was named President of the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...

(NABC). For 12 years, he was also a member of the U.S. Olympic Basketball Committee. He served four years as a member and treasurer of the National Basketball Rules Committee and conducted basketball clinics in the U.S. and in 15 foreign countries. On October 13, 1965, Howard Hobson was enshrined as a coach in the

, having also been inducted into the Portland High School, Helms Foundation,

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

, and Portland Metro Hall of Fame. In 1988, he attended the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the NCAA Tournament. Hobson died on June 9, 1991.

Head coaching record

College basketball

College football

References

* NCAA, ''NCAA March Madness: Cinderellas, Superstars, and Champions from the NCAA Men's Final Four'' Chicago: Triumph Books, 2004.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Howard 1903 births 1991 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Oregon Basketball players from Portland, Oregon College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Columbia University alumni Cortland Red Dragons football coaches Franklin High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni High school basketball coaches in Washington (state) High school football coaches in Washington (state) Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Oregon Ducks baseball coaches Oregon Ducks men's basketball coaches Oregon Ducks men's basketball players Southern Oregon Raiders football coaches Southern Oregon Raiders men's basketball coaches Yale Bulldogs men's basketball coaches