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

Early life

Hoffman attended Petaluma High School

Petaluma High School

Petaluma High School is a public high school located in Petaluma, California. Petaluma High School's rival is Casa Grande High School. Petaluma High School is located in the city of Petaluma, California. Petaluma High School serves the westside of Petaluma and many of the rural areas that surround...

 in Petaluma, California

Petaluma, California

Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...

, and then went on to attend Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

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Track and field

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

Discus throw

The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...

. He set an NCAA discus record in 1925 with a throw of 148 in 4 in (45.21 m), helping Stanford win the 1925 NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships

1925 NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships

The 1925 NCAA Track and Field Championships was the fourth NCAA track and field championship. The event was held at Stagg Field in Chicago, Illinois in June 1925. Stanford University won the team title, and six NCAA records were set at the two-day meet....

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Stanford football

Hoffman was also a fullback

Fullback (American football)

A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...

 on Stanford's football team under legendary coach Pop Warner

Glenn Scobey Warner

Glenn Scobey Warner , most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American football player and coach...

. The 1926 Stanford football team

1926 Stanford football team

The 1926 Stanford football team represented Stanford University in the 1926 college football season. In Head Coach Pop Warner's third season, Stanford went undefeated in the regular season...

 went undefeated in the regular season, outscoring its opponents 268–73, and then faced also-undefeated Alabama in the 1927 Rose Bowl

1927 Rose Bowl

The 1927 Rose Bowl Game was a college football bowl game held on January 1, 1927 in Pasadena, California. The game featured the Alabama Crimson Tide, of the Southern Conference, and Stanford, of the Pacific Coast Conference, now the Pacific-10 Conference. It was Stanford's second Rose Bowl game in...

. The teams played to a 7–7 tie and were named co-national champions by most media. In 1927, Hoffman was named team captain and helped lead the team to the 1928 Rose Bowl

1928 Rose Bowl

The 1928 Rose Bowl Game was a match between the Stanford Indians and the Pittsburgh Panthers . Usually, the Rose Bowl was played on January 1, but in 1928, that fell on a Sunday, so the game was played on January 2, 1928. At this time, the Rose Bowl was the top and only bowl game, an...

, 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

Frank Wilton

Frank S. Wilton, Jr. was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1932 to 1941, compiling a record of 44–39–5...

, 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

Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

 founder Amadeo Giannini

Amadeo Giannini

Amadeo Pietro Giannini, also known as Amadeo Peter Giannini or A.P. Giannini , born in San Jose, California, was the American founder of Bank of America.-Biography:...

. Hoffman worked as an investment banker in San Francisco, and died in 1954 of complications related to an ulcer in his esophagus

Esophagus

The esophagus is an organ in vertebrates which consists of a muscular tube through which food passes from the pharynx to the stomach. During swallowing, food passes from the mouth through the pharynx into the esophagus and travels via peristalsis to the stomach...

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