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Biff Hoffman

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(Redirected from Clifford Hoffman) American football player (1904–1954)

Biff Hoffman
Hoffman throwing the javelin, 1927
Born:1904
Died:January 29, 1954
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Career information
Position(s)Fullback
CollegeStanford
Career highlights and awards

Clifford Ellsworth "Biff" Hoffman (1904 – January 29, 1954) was an American football player and track and field star of the 1920s. He set a collegiate discus record in 1925 and was captain of the 1927 Stanford Indians football team, kicking the winning point after touchdown in the 1928 Rose Bowl Game.

Early life

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

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.

Stanford football

Hoffman as a Stanford junior in 1926.

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, 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.

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. Hoffman was retroactively named the game's most outstanding player when the award was created in 1954.

After football

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

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. ^ Gary Migdol, Stanford: Home of Champions. Sports Publishing LLC, 1997; pp. 71–76.
  4. Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book. Indianapolis, IN: National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2009; pp. 76–81.
  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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