Biff Hoffman
Bill Hoffman participating in a javelin throwing competition 1927
Born:1904
Died:January 29, 1954
San Francisco, California
Career information
Position(s)FB
CollegeStanford
Career highlights and awards
Awards1928 Rose Bowl MVP

Clifford Ellsworth "Biff" Hoffman (1904 – January 29, 1954) was an American football player.

Early life

Hoffman attended Petaluma High School in Petaluma, California, and then went on to attend Stanford University.[1]

Track and field

At Stanford, Hoffman was on the track and field team, where he threw the discus. He set an NCAA discus record in 1925 with a throw of 148 feet 4 inches (45.21 m), helping Stanford win the 1925 NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships.[2]

Stanford football

Hoffman was also a fullback on Stanford's football team under legendary coach Pop Warner. The 1926 Stanford football team went undefeated in the regular season, outscoring its opponents 268–73,[3] and then faced also-undefeated Alabama in the 1927 Rose Bowl. The teams played to a 7–7 tie and were named co-national champions by most media.[4] In 1927, Hoffman was named team captain and helped lead the team to the 1928 Rose Bowl, facing the Pitt Panthers. Behind 6–0 in the third quarter, Hoffman caught a screen pass and raced toward the end zone, but fumbled short of the goal line; another Stanford player, Frankie Wilton, picked up the fumble and ran the ball in for the touchdown. Hoffman then kicked the extra point and the score held, giving Stanford a 7–6 victory, its first Rose Bowl win in four attempts.[3] Hoffman was retroactively named the game's most outstanding player when the award was created in 1954.[5]

After football

In 1930, Hoffman married fellow Stanford graduate Claire Giannini, daughter of Bank of America founder Amadeo Giannini.[6][7] Hoffman worked as an investment banker in San Francisco, and died in 1954 of complications related to an ulcer in his esophagus.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ Spalding, John E. "San Francisco vs. East Bay High School All-Star Football, 1932 to 1938" (PDF). California Interscholastic Federation San Francisco. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 21, 2010. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Hubbard smashes broad jump record". The New York Times. June 13, 1925. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Migdol, Gary (1997). Stanford: Home of Champions. Sports Publishing LLC. pp. 71–76. ISBN 1-57167-116-1. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  4. ↑ Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book (PDF). Indianapolis, IN: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2009. pp. 76–81. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 15, 2010. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Rose Bowl MVPs". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  6. ↑ Cattani, Dana Haight; Angela B. Haight (2009). A. P. Giannini: The Man with the Midas Touch. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4389-5493-6.
  7. ↑ "C. E. Hoffman Weds Claire Giannini" (PDF). The New York Times. May 25, 1930. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Clifford Hoffman dies" (PDF). The New York Times. January 30, 1954. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Biff Hoffman dies". Spokane Daily Chronicle. January 29, 1954. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
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