Bob Houbregs
Robert J. Houbregs was a Canadian professional basketball player. Houbregs was inducted into the Naismith [Basketball Hall of Fame] in 1987.
Basketball career
A 6-foot 8-inch, 225-pound forward-centre, from Queen Anne [High School, Seattle|Queen Anne High School] in Seattle, Washington, Houbregs played for the University of Washington Huskies from 1949 to 1953. 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 [Washington Huskies men's basketball team|1952–53 Huskies] to the Final Four in the 1953 [NCAA basketball tournament|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 [Division I men's basketball tournament|NCAA tournament] Final Four game when he scored 42 against 1952–53 [LSU Tigers basketball team|LSU] in the national third-place game on March 18, 1953.Houbregs was drafted by the NBA's Milwaukee Hawks with the second overall pick in NBA draft|1953] and played five seasons in the NBA with four teams: the Hawks, the Baltimore Bullets, the Boston Celtics, 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 from 1970 to 1973.
Personal life
Houbregs' father John was a minor league ice hockey 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. Houbregs was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.Houbregs was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame 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.