Former Tiger Chris Hobbs Passes

Clemson, S.C.—Former Clemson basketball player Chris Hobbs passed away over the weekend.   The former Tiger power forward and center was just 33 years old.

Hobbs played in 116 games for the Tigers between 2000-04.  He played his first three seasons under Larry Shyatt, who had recruited him to Clemson, and his senior year under Oliver Purnell. 

“This is a very difficult loss because Chris was so young,” said Shyatt, who is now the head coach at Wyoming.   “Chris had to overcome adversity from the beginning of his career because he suffered a torn ACL in high school and that set him back. But, we told him from day one that we would honor his scholarship.

“He overcame the injury to be a starter for us and he made a significant contribution to the Clemson program on the court and as a team leader.   What a fine young man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Hobbs came to Clemson from East Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina and made the ACC All-Rookie team for the 2000-01 season after he averaged 7.3 points and a team best 6.3 rebounds per game.  His 190 rebounds that year are still the fifth most by a Clemson freshman.  The only Clemson players with more in their freshmen year were Tree Rollins, Trevor Booker, Sharone Wright and Dale Davis, all first-round draft choices who went on to play many years in the NBA.

Hobbs also shot a team best 56.6 percent from the field as a freshman, still the third best in Clemson history for a freshman.   Hobbs and Trevor Booker are the only freshmen to lead Clemson in field goal percentage and rebounding over the last 18 years.

 As a sophomore Hobbs averaged a career best 11.6 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per contest. His top game came against a No. 1 ranked Duke team in Cameron Indoor Stadium when he had 25 points and nine rebounds.  The 25 points were the second most scored by an ACC player against the Blue Devils that year. He averaged 6.3 points a game as a junior and 7.7 as a senior.

Hobbs scored 961 career points and had 679 career rebounds to go with a .528 field goal percentage.  He is still 15^th in Clemson history in career rebounds.

After graduating from Clemson, Hobbs played professionally overseas before returning to North Carolina to enter the business world.