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 men's player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in 1936 by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms, the owner of Helms Bakery in Los Angeles.^[1]

Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	the national men's college basketball player of the year
Country	United States
Presented by	Helms Athletic Foundation
History
First award	1943[a]
Final award	1983

The award was first presented in 1944, when the Helms Athletic Foundation announced Schroeder's player of the year selection for the 1943–44 season as well as his retroactive picks for each season from 1904–05 to 1942–43.^[1] Schroeder then began selecting a player of the year annually.

After Paul Helms' death in 1957, his family continued supporting the foundation until 1969, when the bakeries went out of business.^[2] Schroeder found a new benefactor in United Savings & Loan,^[2] and the foundation's name became United Savings–Helms Athletic Foundation.^[3][4] United merged with Citizens Savings & Loan in 1973, when the foundation became the Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation.^[2] 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.^[5][6] Schroeder made his last player of the year selection for the 1982–83 season, after which the award came to an end.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Helms Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Winners prior to the 1942–43 season were selected retroactively in 1943^[7] and 1957.

Christian Steinmetz, Wisconsin, 1905

George Levis, Wisconsin, 1916

Bill Chandler, Wisconsin, 1918

Paul Endacott, Kansas, 1923

Charlie T. Black, Kansas, 1924

Jack Cobb, North Carolina, 1926

Cat Thompson, Montana State, 1929

Charley Hyatt, Pittsburgh, 1930

George Mikan, DePaul, 1944 and 1945

Tony Lavelli, Yale, 1949

Bill Russell, San Francisco, 1955 and 1956

Lennie Rosenbluth, North Carolina, 1957

Cazzie Russell, Michigan, 1966

Lew Alcindor,^[b] UCLA, 1967 through 1969

Austin Carr, Notre Dame, 1971

David Thompson, NC State, 1974 and 1975

Mark Aguirre, DePaul, 1981

James Worthy, North Carolina, 1982

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1904–05	Christian Steinmetz	Wisconsin	F	Senior	[8]
1905–06	George Grebenstein	Dartmouth	F	Junior
1906–07	Gilmore Kinney	Yale	F	Senior
1907–08	Charles Keinath	Pennsylvania	F	Junior
1908–09	John Schommer	Chicago	C	Senior
1909–10	Harlan Page	Chicago	G	Senior
1910–11	Ted Kiendl	Columbia	F	Senior
1911–12	Otto Stangel	Wisconsin	F	Senior
1912–13	Eddie Calder	St. Lawrence	F	Senior
1913–14	Gil Halstead	Cornell	C	Senior
1914–15	Ernest Houghton	Union (NY)	G	Senior
1915–16	George Levis	Wisconsin	F	Senior
1916–17	Ray Woods	Illinois	G	Senior
1917–18	Bill Chandler	Wisconsin	C	Senior
1918–19	Erling Platou	Minnesota	G	Junior
1919–20	Howard Cann	NYU	F	Senior	[7]
1920–21	George Williams	Missouri	C	Senior
1921–22	Chuck Carney	Illinois	C	Senior
1922–23	Paul Endacott	Kansas	G	Senior
1923–24	Charlie T. Black	Kansas	G	Senior
1924–25	Earl Mueller	Colorado College	C	Senior
1925–26	Jack Cobb	North Carolina	F	Senior
1926–27	Vic Hanson	Syracuse	F	Senior
1927–28	Victor Holt	Oklahoma	C	Senior
1928–29	Cat Thompson	Montana State	F	Junior
1929–30	Charley Hyatt	Pittsburgh	G	Senior
1930–31	Bart Carlton	East Central	G	Senior
1931–32	John Wooden	Purdue	G	Junior
1932–33	Forest Sale	Kentucky	F / C	Senior
1933–34	Wesley Bennett	Westminster (PA)	C	Senior
1934–35	Leroy Edwards	Kentucky	C	Sophomore
1935–36	John Moir	Notre Dame	F	Sophomore
1936–37	Hank Luisetti	Stanford	F	Sophomore
1937–38	Hank Luisetti (2)	Stanford	F	Junior
1938–39	Chet Jaworski	Rhode Island	F	Senior
1939–40	George Glamack	North Carolina	C	Junior
1940–41	George Glamack (2)	North Carolina	C	Senior
1941–42	Stan Modzelewski	Rhode Island	G / F	Senior
1942–43	George Senesky	Saint Joseph's	G	Senior	[9][8]
1943–44	George Mikan	DePaul	C	Junior
1944–45	George Mikan (2)	DePaul	C	Senior
1945–46	Bob Kurland	Oklahoma State	C	Senior
1946–47	Gerald Tucker	Oklahoma	C	Senior
1947–48	Ed Macauley	Saint Louis	C	Junior
1948–49	Tony Lavelli	Yale	F	Senior
1949–50	Paul Arizin	Villanova	F	Senior	[10]
1950–51	Dick Groat	Duke	G	Junior	[9][8]
1951–52	Clyde Lovellette	Kansas	F / C	Senior
1952–53	Bob Houbregs	Washington	C	Senior
1953–54	Tom Gola	La Salle	G / F	Senior	[11]
1954–55	Bill Russell	San Francisco	C	Junior	[12]
1955–56	Bill Russell (2)	San Francisco	C	Senior	[9][8]
1956–57	Lennie Rosenbluth	North Carolina	F	Senior
1957–58	Elgin Baylor	Seattle	F / C	Junior
1958–59	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati	G	Junior
1959–60	Oscar Robertson (2)	Cincinnati	G	Senior
1960–61	Jerry Lucas	Ohio State	F / C	Junior
1961–62	Paul Hogue	Cincinnati	C	Senior	[13]
1962–63	Art Heyman	Duke	G	Senior	[9][8]
1963–64	Walt Hazzard	UCLA	G	Senior
1964–65†	Bill Bradley	Princeton	G / F	Senior
	Gail Goodrich	UCLA	G	Senior
1965–66	Cazzie Russell	Michigan	G / F	Senior
1966–67	Lew Alcindor[b]	UCLA	C	Sophomore
1967–68	Lew Alcindor[b] (2)	UCLA	C	Junior
1968–69	Lew Alcindor[b] (3)	UCLA	C	Senior
1969–70†	Pete Maravich	LSU	G	Senior
	Sidney Wicks	UCLA	F / C	Junior
1970–71†	Austin Carr	Notre Dame	G	Senior	[9]
	Sidney Wicks (2)	UCLA	F / C	Senior
1971–72	Bill Walton	UCLA	C	Sophomore
1972–73	Bill Walton (2)	UCLA	C	Junior
1973–74†	Bill Walton (3)	UCLA	C	Senior	[14]
	David Thompson	NC State	G / F	Junior
1974–75	David Thompson (2)	NC State	G / F	Senior	[9]
1975–76†	Kent Benson	Indiana	C	Junior
	Scott May	Indiana	F	Senior
1976–77	Marques Johnson	UCLA	G	Senior	[15]
1977–78	Jack Givens	Kentucky	G / F	Senior	[16]
1978–79	Larry Bird	Indiana State	F	Senior	[17]
1979–80	Darrell Griffith	Louisville	G	Senior	[18]
1980–81	Mark Aguirre	DePaul	F	Sophomore	[19]
1981–82†	Ralph Sampson	Virginia	C	Junior	[5]
	James Worthy	North Carolina	F	Junior
1982–83	Akeem Olajuwon[c]	Houston	C	Sophomore	[20][21]

• ^a Retroactive awards for 1905 to 1943.
• ^b Lew Alcindor later changed his named to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.^[22]
• ^c Olajuwon later changed his first name's spelling from Akeem to Hakeem to use the original Arabic spelling.^[23]