Helms Athletic Foundation

Founded in 1936 by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms, the Helms Athletic Foundation was based in Los Angeles, California. The name was a misnomer, as there actually was no foundation in place to sustain the operation. Instead the organization was subsidized completely by the operations of Helms Bakery, opened by Helms in Los Angeles. Schroeder selected the foundation's national champion teams and made All-America team selections in a number of college sports, including football and basketball. He continued to select national champions for the Helms Foundation until 1982, its final year of selections. Schroeder also retroactively selected national champions in college football dating from 1947 back to the 1883 season and in college basketball from 1942 back to the 1900–01 season. The Helms Foundation also operated a hall of fame for both college sports. The retroactive Helms titles were the well-researched opinions of one person about teams that played during an era when, due to factors outside their control (e.g., minimal schedules, lack of intersectional play, differing rule interpretations, minimal statistics), it is difficult to know or assess the relative strength of the teams.

Besides collegiate athletics, the foundation operated halls of fame for professional football, Major League Baseball, the Pacific Coast League, basketball, fencing, golf, tennis, swimming, auto racing, track and fieldand soaring.

After Paul Helms' death in 1957, United Savings and Loan became the Helms Foundation's benefactor and when United merged with Citizen Savings Bank in 1973, the Athletic Foundation became known as the Citizens Savings Athletic Foundation. It was again renamed in 1982 when First Interstate Bank assumed sponsorship for the foundation's final year. Paul Helms started Helms Bakery in Southern California, which was the official bread (Helms Olympic bread) of the 1932 Olympics. Helms Hall was located on 8760 Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The Helms Olympics neon sign still can be seen on top of the building.

When the Helms Foundation dissolved, its historical holdings were absorbed into the collection of the Amateur Athletic Foundation, renamed the LA84 Foundation in 2007.

National titles

Basketball

From 1939, when the NCAA Tournament started, the Helms and NCAA Division I champions were the same, except for 1939, 1940, 1944, and 1954 when Oregon, Indiana, Utah, and La Salle respectively won the tournament. Some schools claim a Helms nomination as a national championship.

Year	Team	Record
1900–01	Yale	10–4
1901–02	Minnesota	15–0
1902–03	Yale	15–1
1903–04	Columbia	17–1
1904–05	Columbia	19–1
1905–06	Dartmouth	16–2
1906–07	Chicago	21–2
1907–08	Chicago	23–2
1908–09	Chicago	12–0
1909–10	Columbia	11–1
1910–11	St. John's	14–0
1911–12	Wisconsin	15–0
1912–13	Navy	9–0
1913–14	Wisconsin	15–0
1914–15	Illinois	16–0
1915–16	Wisconsin	20–1
1916–17	Washington State	25–1
1917–18	Syracuse	16–1
1918–19	Minnesota	13–0
1919–20	Penn	21–1
1920–21	Penn	21–2
1921–22	Kansas	16–2
1922–23	Kansas	17–1
1923–24	North Carolina	26–0
1924–25	Princeton	21–2
1925–26	Syracuse	19–1
1926–27	Notre Dame	19–1
1927–28	Pittsburgh	21–0
1928–29	Montana State	36–2
1929–30	Pittsburgh	23–2
1930–31	Northwestern	16–1
1931–32	Purdue	17–1
1932–33	Kentucky	21–3
1933–34	Wyoming	26–4
1934–35	NYU	19–1
1935–36	Notre Dame	22–2–1
1936–37	Stanford	25–2
1937–38	Temple	23–2
1938–39	Long Island	23–0
1939–40	USC	20–3
1940–41	Wisconsin	20–3
1941–42	Stanford	27–4
1942–43	Wyoming	31–2
1943–44	Army	15–0
1944–45	Oklahoma A&M	27–4
1945–46	Oklahoma A&M	31–2
1946–47	Holy Cross	27–3
1947–48	Kentucky	36–3
1948–49	Kentucky	32–2
1949–50	CCNY	24–5
1950–51	Kentucky	32–2
1951–52	Kansas	28–3
1952–53	Indiana	23–3
1953–54	Kentucky	25–0
1954–55	San Francisco	28–1
1955–56	San Francisco	29–0
1956–57	North Carolina	32–0
1957–58	Kentucky	23–6
1958–59	California	25–4
1959–60	Ohio State	25–3
1960–61	Cincinnati	27–3
1961–62	Cincinnati	29–2
1962–63	Loyola (IL)	29–2
1963–64	UCLA	30–0
1964–65	UCLA	28–2
1965–66	Texas Western	28–1
1966–67	UCLA	30–0
1967–68	UCLA	29–1
1968–69	UCLA	29–1
1969–70	UCLA	28–2
1970–71	UCLA	29–1
1971–72	UCLA	30–0
1972–73	UCLA	30–0
1973–74	NC State	30–1
1974–75	UCLA	28–3
1975–76	Indiana	32–0
1976–77	Marquette	25–7
1977–78	Kentucky	30–2
1978–79	Michigan State	26–6
1979–80	Louisville	33–3
1980–81	Indiana	26–9
1981–82	North Carolina	32–2
Source

Football

Year	Team	Record
1883	Yale	8–0
1884	Yale	8–0–1
1885	Princeton	9–0
1886	Yale	9–0–1
1887	Yale	9–0
1888	Yale	13–0
1889	Princeton	10–0
1890	Harvard	11–0
1891	Yale	13–0
1892	Yale	13–0
1893	Princeton	11–0
1894	Yale	16–0
1895	Penn	14–0
1896	Princeton	10–0–1
1897	Penn	15–0
1898	Harvard	11–0
1899	Harvard	10–0–1
1900	Yale	12–0
1901	Michigan	11–0
1902	Michigan	11–0
1903	Princeton	11–0
1904	Penn	12–0
1905	Chicago	11–0
1906	Princeton	9–0–1
1907	Yale	9–0–1
1908	Penn	11–0–1
1909	Yale	10–0
1910	Harvard	8–0–1
1911	Princeton	8–0–2
1912	Harvard	9–0
1913	Harvard	9–0
1914	Army	9–0
1915	Cornell	9–0
1916	Pittsburgh	8–0
1917	Georgia Tech	9–0
1918	Pittsburgh	4–1
1919	Harvard	9–0–1
1920	California	9–0
1921	Cornell	8–0
1922	Cornell	8–0
1923	Illinois	8–0
1924	Notre Dame	10–0
1925	Alabama	10–0
1926	Alabama Stanford	9–0–1 10–0–1
1927	Illinois	7–0–1
1928	Georgia Tech	10–0
1929	Notre Dame	9–0
1930	Notre Dame	10–0
1931	USC	10–1
1932	USC	10–0
1933	Michigan	7–0–1
1934	Minnesota	8–0
1935	Minnesota	8–0
1936	Minnesota	7–1
1937	California	10–0–1
1938	TCU	11–0
1939	Texas A&M	11–0
1940	Stanford	10–0
1941	Minnesota	8–0
1942	Wisconsin	8–1–1
1943	Notre Dame	9–1
1944	Army	9–0
1945	Army	9–0
1946	Army Notre Dame	9–0–1 8–0–1
1947	Notre Dame Michigan	9–0 10–0
1948	Michigan	9–0
1949	Notre Dame	10–0
1950	Oklahoma	10–1
1951	Michigan State	9–0
1952	Michigan State	9–0
1953	Notre Dame	9–0–1
1954	UCLA Ohio State	9–0 10–0
1955	Oklahoma	11–0
1956	Oklahoma	10–0
1957	Auburn	10–0
1958	LSU	11–0
1959	Syracuse	11–0
1960	Washington	10–1
1961	Alabama	11–0
1962	USC	11–0
1963	Texas	11–0
1964	Arkansas	11–0
1965	Michigan State	10–1
1966	Notre Dame Michigan State	9–0–1 9–0–1
1967	USC	10–1
1968	Ohio State	10–0
1969	Texas	11–0
1970	Nebraska	11–0–1
1971	Nebraska	13–0
1972	USC	12–0
1973	Notre Dame	11–0
1974	Oklahoma USC	11–0 10–1–1
1975	Ohio State Oklahoma	11–1 11–1
1976	Pittsburgh	12–0
1977	Notre Dame	11–1
1978	Alabama Oklahoma USC	11–1 11–1 12–1
1979	Alabama	12–0
1980	Georgia	12–0
1981	Clemson	12–0
1982	Penn State SMU	11–1 11–0–1
Source

World Trophy

The World Trophy, originally known as the Helms Award, was an annual sporting award established by the Helms Athletic Foundation in 1939 to honor the foremost amateur athlete of each continent of the world, including Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Even though the Foundation was established in 1936, the awards date back to 1896, the year of the first Summer Olympics.

Winners:

• World Trophy for Australasia
• World Trophy for Africa
• World Trophy for Asia
• World Trophy for Europe
• World Trophy for North America
• World Trophy for South America

See also

• AP Poll
• Bowl Championship Series
• Coaches Poll
• College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS
• Dickinson System
• Grantland Rice Award

• Harris Interactive College Football Poll
• Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year
• Mythical national championship
• Premo-Porretta Power Poll