Jim Hobbins (born June 4, 1964) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

who played one season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

and also was a member of the

Green Bay Bombers The Green Bay Bombers were an indoor American football, indoor football team that played in the Professional Indoor Football League (1998), Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) in 1998, and in the Indoor Football League (1999–2000), Indoo ...

in the

Professional Indoor Football League The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor F ...

(PIFL).

Early life

Hobbins was born on June 4, 1964, in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...

. He attended Preble High School in Green Bay and is one of four of their alumni to play in the NFL. He was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

in three sports: football, basketball 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 ...

. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 1981, Hobbins was named first-team all-conference on offense at tackle and second-team on defense at

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

; he also was selected first-team (offense) and second-team (defense) all-metro and was a second-team all-state choice. He graduated in 1982 as ninth in a class of 572.

College career

Hobbins enrolled at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

and began playing for their Golden Gopher football team after he graduated from Preble. He had been highly recruited and joined Minnesota over offers from other schools such as

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. He saw limited action as a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

but started the season finale against Wisconsin. He became a full-time starter at left tackle in the 1983 season but played for a Golden Gopher team described as "possibly the poorest collegiate team in the country." Hobbins broke his foot on the first day of practice entering the 1984 season and missed the entire year as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

. He returned as a starter in 1985 and helped Minnesota have one of the top rushing offenses nationally. As a senior in 1986, he remained a starter and was named second-team All-Big Ten Conference, also participating in the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

. During his time at Minnesota, Hobbins was also a first-team Academic All-Big Ten selection. He graduated with a degree in business finance.

Professional career

Hobbins went unselected in the

1987 NFL draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Ma ...

. He was subsequently signed by the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, attempting to become the first Green Bay native to play for the Packers in 13 years. He was limited by injury throughout the offseason and was released during roster cuts. He signed a strike option contract, however, after being cut, allowing him to re-join the Packers as a

replacement player In professional sports, a replacement player is an sportsperson, athlete who is not a member of the league's players association and plays during a labor dispute such as a Strike action, strike or Lockout (industry), lockout, serving as a strikebre ...

when the NFLPA went on strike later that season. He made his NFL debut against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

and ultimately started all three strike games as a guard before being released, posting a

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

recovery as his only statistic. Hobbins was then out of football until 11 years later, when he made the roster of the

in the

(PIFL). Nicknamed "Grandpa", he was the oldest player on the team at the age of 34. He earned $200 per game with the Bombers while also working at Arbon Equipment when not playing. He was selected second-team all-league at the end of the season.

Personal life

Hobbins married Amy Lou Murto in January 1986, and they had a child later that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbins, Jim 1964 births Living people Players of American football from Green Bay, Wisconsin American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles American football defensive ends Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Green Bay Packers players NFL replacement players 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen