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.

The award was presented annually beginning in 1943, when the Helms Athletic Foundation announced Schroeder's player of the year selection for the 1942–43 season. Earlier that year, his retroactive picks for each season from 1919–20 to 1941–42 were released. Additional retroactive picks from 1904–05 to 1918–19 were released in 1957.

After Helms died in 1957, his family continued supporting the foundation until 1969, when the bakeries went out of business. Schroeder found a new benefactor in United Savings & Loan, and the foundation's name became United Savings–Helms Athletic Foundation. United merged with Citizens Savings & Loan in 1973, when the foundation became the Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation. 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. 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

Season Player School Position Class Reference 1904–05 Wisconsin F 1905–06 Dartmouth F 1906–07 Yale F 1907–08 Pennsylvania F 1908–09 Chicago C 1909–10 Chicago G 1910–11 Columbia F 1911–12 Wisconsin F 1912–13 St. Lawrence F 1913–14 Cornell C 1914–15 Union (NY) G 1915–16 Wisconsin F 1916–17 Illinois G 1917–18 Wisconsin C 1918–19 Minnesota G 1919–20 NYU F 1920–21 Missouri C 1921–22 Illinois C 1922–23 Kansas G 1923–24 Kansas G 1924–25 Colorado College C 1925–26 North Carolina F 1926–27 Syracuse F 1927–28 Oklahoma C 1928–29 Montana State F 1929–30 Pittsburgh G 1930–31 East Central G 1931–32 Purdue G 1932–33 Kentucky F / C 1933–34 Westminster (PA) C 1934–35 Kentucky C 1935–36 Notre Dame F 1936–37 Stanford F 1937–38 (2) Stanford F 1938–39 Rhode Island F 1939–40 North Carolina C 1940–41 (2) North Carolina C 1941–42 Rhode Island G / F 1942–43 Saint Joseph's G 1943–44 DePaul C 1944–45 (2) DePaul C 1945–46 Oklahoma State C 1946–47 Oklahoma C 1947–48 Saint Louis C 1948–49 Yale F 1949–50 Villanova F 1950–51 Duke G 1951–52 Kansas F / C 1952–53 Washington C 1953–54 La Salle G / F 1954–55 San Francisco C 1955–56 (2) San Francisco C 1956–57 North Carolina F 1957–58 Seattle F / C 1958–59 Cincinnati G 1959–60 (2) Cincinnati G 1960–61 Ohio State F / C 1961–62 Cincinnati C 1962–63 Duke G 1963–64 UCLA G 1964–65† Princeton G / F UCLA G 1965–66 Michigan G / F 1966–67 UCLA C 1967–68 (2) UCLA C 1968–69 (3) UCLA C 1969–70† LSU G UCLA F / C 1970–71† Notre Dame G (2) UCLA F / C 1971–72 UCLA C 1972–73 (2) UCLA C 1973–74† (3) UCLA C NC State G / F 1974–75 (2) NC State G / F 1975–76† Indiana C Indiana F 1976–77 UCLA G 1977–78 Kentucky G / F 1978–79 Indiana State F 1979–80 Louisville G 1980–81 DePaul F 1981–82 Virginia C North Carolina F 1982–83 Houston C

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