By HUGH CONRAD
LORETTO — When Kurt Hoffman fell to the floor last week at the Stokes Center, screaming in agony, coach Don Friday knew that his senior post player would ultimately return to the lineup to help lead the St. Francis basketball team to one of their biggest upsets in recent history.
Hoffman is that kind of young man.
The Red Flash senior received an elbow to his nose early in the second half in the Northeast Conference win over second-place Quinnipiac. Serious bleeding did not deter Hoffman from returning onto the court, albeit with a mask that could protect the nose.
“(Before) Kurt came back in, I think that people thought that he was done for the night,” Friday said after the game. “He came right back in, and he is ready and gets a layup.”
That hard-working attitude by the senior has helped the Red Flash secure a postseason playoff berth for the first time in four years. The Red Flash are currently tied for fifth place in the NEC with a 9-7 record, 11-16 overall, with a game at Mount St. Mary’s on Thursday and one at Wagner on Saturday to complete the regular-season schedule.
The former Greater Johnstown High School standout is an athlete whose contributions are not always found in the Red Flash stats. His coach listed some words to describe the intangibles and tangibles in Hoffman’s persona: Leader, role model, cerebralness, glue, communicator, screener.
Hoffman was offered a Division I scholarship by former coach Bobby Jones when he was a senior in high school. Jones scouted Hoffman a year earlier as the Trojans advanced to the PIAA AAA championship before falling to Steelton-Highspire, 70-48.
In Hoffman’s senior season, the Trojans captured their third consecutive District 6-AAA championship, and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs. Hoffman averaged 18 points and 14 rebounds a game that season, earning his a spot on the Associated Press AAA first team.
Hoffman hoped to continue that winning tradition at St. Francis.
Instead, the Red Flash won just
20 games in his first three seasons, going 12-42 in the Northeast Conference.
That required some serious adaptation on Hoffman’s part.
“It was difficult coming from a winning high school tradition,” Hoffman said last week. “For us to not be able to put together better records in my freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons was frustrating.
“But, you adapt. You are critical of yourself as a player and as a person. It was a learning experience, and finally, that learning has blossomed into a much better experience this year. Hopefully, we can finish off the season strong.”
Hoffman is listed at 6-foot-6 and weighs 210 pounds. However, instead of playing the small forward or power forward positions, he has often been cast into a role of defending the opponent’s top post player or offensively playing under the hoop.
As a result, his numbers are not as impressive as they could have been.
The St. Francis senior is averaging five points and four rebounds per game, although he shoots high percentage shots (42-of-74, 57 percent).
Jones resigned after Hoffman’s sophomore season with the Flash, and St. Francis hired Friday, who has brought in a strong recruiting class this year and has inspired the players to reach loftier goals.
Friday said that Hoffman’s role has been vital to this year’s team starting a turnaround.
“When you have a kid like Kurt, he is not looking to hit his shot,” Friday said.
“He is a glue kid who holds things together. He is our best screener and one of the best communicators on our team.
“What he lacks in his vertical jumping or with his physical height and weight, he makes up with his cerebralness.”
Cerebralness translates into intelligence, and Hoffman has been a tremendous role model off the court. A mathematics/secondary education major who plans to teach secondary math, Hoffman has excelled in the classroom, compiling a 3.81 grade-point-average.
That accomplishment has provided him with national recognition, a nomination to the ESPN The Magazine’s District 2 All-Academic Team. He is now a candidate for the Academic All-America team that is selected by the College Sports Information Directors Association. That team will be announced on Wednesday.
Hoffman is student teaching at Forest Hills High School this semester, and his coach believes that the off-the-court plaudits will help Hoffman after he graduates in May.
“At Bucknell, we had (two athletes) who received that recognition,” Friday said. “The fact that they performed that well academically and played a Division I sport opened many doors for them later in life. That will immediately help Kurt Hoffman’s resume move to the top of the stack.”
Hoffman is happy that he chose to attend St. Francis despite some of the adversity on the court.
“I have been able to learn so much here, from everyone: My professors, my coaches, everyone,” he said.
“St. Francis has provided me with a caring environment, and I could not have asked for anything more than that.”
Hoffman served as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at St. Francis and is a member of the Kappa Mu Epsilon Math Honors Society and the Delta Epsilon Sigma National Scholastic Honor Society.
He is the son of Kia and Cindy Hoffman of Johnstown.
