Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year

The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual basketball award given to the most outstanding intercollegiate men's basketball player in the United States. The award was first given following the 1904–05 season and ceased being awarded after the 1978–79 season. It was the first major most valuable player (MVP) award for men's basketball in the United States, and the Helms Athletic Foundation was considered within the basketball community to be the authority on men's college basketball for that era. Thus, the award was viewed as the premier player of the year award one could receive up until the 1960s, at which point the Naismith College Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Award took over as the national season MVP awards.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Christian Steinmetz was the inaugural winner of the award in 1905.

Paul Endacott, the 1923 awardee, is also in the Hall of Fame.

Bill Russell is the only winner from San Francisco.

Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) was the only three-time winner.

Bill Walton of UCLA was awarded in 1972 and 1973.

Larry Bird was the final recipient of the award in 1979.

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