Robert J. Houbregs (March 12, 1932 – May 28, 2014) was a Canadian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. Houbregs was inducted into the

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

in 1987.

Basketball career

A 6-foot 8-inch, 225-pound forward-centre, from Queen Anne High School in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, Houbregs played for the University of Washington Huskies from 1949 to 1953 (his family moved to Seattle from

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

when he was a child). In 1952, Houbregs was a Second Team Consensus All-America selection. In 1953, as a senior, he was named NCAA Player of the Year, was a Consensus All-America selection, helped lead the 1952–53 Huskies to the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

in the NCAA tournament, and was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 34.8 points per game in the post-season. He became the first player to score 40 or more points in an NCAA tournament Final Four game when he scored 42 against

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in the national third-place game on March 18, 1953. Houbregs was drafted by the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Milwaukee Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at S ...

with the second overall pick in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

and played five seasons (1953–1958) in the NBA with four teams: the Hawks, the Baltimore Bullets, the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

, and the Fort Wayne (later Detroit) Pistons. Houbregs' career scoring average was 9.3 points per game. Houbregs served as general manager of the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

from 1970 to 1973.

Personal life

Houbregs' father John was a minor league

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player who moved to Seattle in 1934/35 with his family in order to play for the Seattle Sea Hawks of the

North West Hockey League The North West Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed from 1933 to 1936. It was formed from the Calgary and Vancouver franchises of the Western Canada Hockey League and ...

. Houbregs was a member of

Alpha Sigma Phi Alpha Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Sig, is an intercollegiate men's social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Founded in 1845 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, it is the tenth oldest social fraternity in the United Sta ...

fraternity. Houbregs was elected to the

in 1987. In 2000, Houbregs was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame for his significant contributions to the sport as a player. Houbregs died on May 28, 2014 in Olympia, Washington. He was 82 years old.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Hoophall.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houbregs, Bob 1932 births 2014 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) players Basketball players from Seattle Basketball players from Vancouver Boston Celtics players Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Canadian people of Dutch descent Centers (basketball) Detroit Pistons players Fort Wayne Pistons players Milwaukee Hawks draft picks Milwaukee Hawks players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees NBA players from Canada Power forwards Seattle SuperSonics general managers Washington Huskies men's basketball players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen