William Bernard Thieben was an American professional basketball player.
13 Facts About Bill Thieben
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Bill Thieben was selected in the 1956 NBA draft by the Fort Wayne Pistons.
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Bill Thieben was a native of Suffolk County, New York, and attended Sayville High School from 1948 to 1952.
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Bill Thieben decided to stay close to home when he went to college and enrolled at nearby Hofstra University.
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Bill Thieben, therefore, had to play for the school's freshman team.
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Hofstra was classified as a Division II institution when he first entered college, but Bill Thieben went on to have one of the greatest all-around basketball careers in NCAA history, regardless of classification.
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Bill Thieben played in 24 games that season and averaged 24.6 points and 25.8 rebounds per game.
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Bill Thieben repeated as a Look magazine All-American, and he was selected as the Haggerty Award winner.
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The Haggerty Award has been given annually since 1936 to the New York City metropolitan area's top male collegiate basketball player, and Bill Thieben was the first Hofstra player to receive it.
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In just 76 career games, Bill Thieben scored 2,045 points and grabbed a school record 1,837 rebounds.
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Bill Thieben still holds Hofstra records for career scoring and rebounding averages, as well as single game scoring and rebounding records.
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Bill Thieben's statistics dropped to 3.7 points and 2.4 rebounds in 27 games played.
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Bill Thieben became the history teacher at Bay Shore High School in Bay Shore, New York for three years, and then in 1961 became the school's assistant principal for the next decade.