Paul James Hoffman was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player.

College career

Hoffman, a 6'2" guard/forward, attended Jasper High School in Jasper, Indiana

Jasper, Indiana

- Strassenfest :The Jasper Strassenfest is a four-day event held annually during the first weekend in August. The "Fest" is a celebration between Jasper and its German sister-city Pfaffenweiler, a small village in southwest Germany. Many citizens of Pfaffenweiler travel to Jasper around this time...

. After high school, he attended Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

, where he played under head coach Ward Lambert

Ward Lambert

Ward Louis "Piggy" Lambert was an American college men's basketball coach. He was born in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1890, Lambert and his family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He played basketball at Crawfordsville High School and Wabash College, both under coach Ralph Jones, who himself...

. He became the only four time First Team-All Big Ten selection in Boilermaker

Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball

The Purdue Boilermakers basketball team is a college basketball program that competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Purdue basketball holds the record for most Big Ten Championships with 22, along with being the only program in the conference to boast winning records...

 history and one of first two players to be selected in the NBA Draft with teammate Bulbs Ehlers

Bulbs Ehlers

Edwin S. "Bulbs" Ehlers is a retired American professional basketball player. Standing and weighing 198 pounds , he played the forward and guard positions. Ehlers was drafted third overall in the 1947 Basketball Association of America Draft by the Boston Celtics, which was the first official...

. 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

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

.

Professional playing career

Hoffman was drafted by the Toronto Huskies

Toronto Huskies

The Toronto Huskies were a team in the Basketball Association of America during the 1946–47 season, based in Toronto, Ontario...

 in the 1947 BAA Draft

1947 BAA Draft

The 1947 BAA Draft was the inaugural draft of the Basketball Association of America , which later became the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on July 1, 1947 before the 1947–48 season. In this draft, nine remaining BAA teams along with the Baltimore Bullets who joined the BAA...

. He averaged 10.5 points per game in his rookie season and was named NBA Rookie of the Year — a designation not currently sanctioned by the NBA for the 1947-48 season.

Hoffman played six seasons in the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 as a member of the Baltimore Bullets, New York Knicks

New York Knicks

The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...

, and Philadelphia Warriors. He averaged 2.9 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 10.2 points per game

Points per game

Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by number of games. The terminology is often used in...

 in his career, while tallying a total of 3234 points. Paul helped lead the Bullets to the NBA Championship

1948 NBA Finals

The 1948 BAA Finals was the championship round of the Basketball Association of America's 1947–48 season. Basketball Association of America would eventually become the National Basketball Association .-Series Summary:Bullets win series 4-2...

 1948. He served as the Bullets general manager for two seasons.

Coaching career

From 1956 to 1959, Hoffman served as the head baseball coach at Purdue, replacing Hank Stram

Hank Stram

Henry Louis "Hank" Stram was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the American Football League's Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs and the Chiefs of the NFL. Stram won three AFL Championships and Super Bowl IV with the Chiefs...

. He also worked as an assistant for the basketball team under head coach Ray Eddy.

External links

• Career statistics