in 1939. His 1939 team was known as the "Tall Firs" because of their size: the players averaged about six feet in height, which was considered very tall for a basketball player at the time. Hobson coached Oregon's basketball and baseball teams from 1936 to 1947, when he left to coach basketball at Yale University. He coached at Yale until 1956, during which time his teams won or shared five Big Three crowns (in 1948, 1949, 1951, 1953, and 1956). The 1949 team was the first NCAA Tournament entry in the school's history and won the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League title for the first time in 16 years. Legacy Hobson was the first coach to win championships at a major college level on both coasts. He also pioneered intersectional play at Oregon, making the Ducks the first Western team to travel East for games. He repeated this type of intersectional play at Yale, and the 1948–49 team was the first Yale team to appear on the Pacific Coast. His overall record for 27 years as a coach was 495–291. In 1947, Hobson was named President of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). For 12 years, he was also a member of the U.S. Olympic Basketball Committee. He served four years as a member and treasurer of the National Basketball Rules Committee and conducted basketball clinics in the U.S. and in 15 foreign countries. On October 13, 1965, Howard Hobson was enshrined as a coach in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, having also been inducted into the Portland High School, Helms Foundation, Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, and Portland Metro Hall of Fame. In 1988, he attended the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the NCAA Tournament. Hobson died on June 9, 1991. Head coaching record College basketball College football See also List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach References NCAA, NCAA March Madness: Cinderellas, Superstars, and Champions from the NCAA Men's Final Four Chicago: Triumph Books, 2004. Further reading Hobson, Howard A. Shooting Ducks: A History of University of Oregon Basketball Portland: Western Imprints/Oregon Historical Society Press, 1984. External links 1903 births 1991 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Oregon Basketball players from Portland, Oregon College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Columbia University alumni Cortland Red Dragons football coaches Franklin High School (Portland,