The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men's player in the United States.
[1] The award was first presented in 1944, when the Helms Athletic Foundation announced Schroeder's player of the year selection for the 1943–44 season as well as his retroactive picks for the for each season from 1904–05 to 1942–43.
[1] Schroeder then began selecting a player of the year annually.
After Paul Helms' death in 1957, his family continued supporting the foundation until 1969, when the bakeries went out of business.
[5][6] Schroeder made his last player of the year selection for the 1982–83 season, after which the award came to an end.