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

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

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 Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, and then went on to attend

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Track and field

At Stanford, Hoffman was on the track and field team, where he threw the discus and

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. He set an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

discus record in 1925 with a discus throw of , helping Stanford win the 1925 NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships.

Stanford football

Hoffman was also a fullback on Stanford's football team under legendary coach

Pop Warner Glenn Scobey Warner (April 5, 1871 – September 7, 1954), most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American college football coach at various institutions who is responsible for several key aspects of the modern game. Included among his inn ...

. The 1926 Stanford football team went undefeated in the regular season, outscoring its opponents 268–73,Gary Migdol
''Stanford: Home of Champions.''
Sports Publishing LLC, 1997; pp. 71–76. and then faced also-undefeated

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in the 1927 Rose Bowl. The teams played to a 7–7 tie and were named co-national champions by most media.''Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book.''
Indianapolis, IN: National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2009; pp. 76–81. 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 The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

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 The esophagus (American English), oesophagus (British English), or œsophagus (Œ, archaic spelling) (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, see spelling difference) all ; : ((o)e)(œ)sophagi or ((o)e)(œ)sophaguses), c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Biff 1954 deaths Stanford Cardinal football players Players of American football from San Francisco 1904 births Petaluma High School alumni Sportspeople from Petaluma, California Players of American football from Sonoma County, California NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Stanford Cardinal men's track and field athletes American male shot putters American male discus throwers