Legendary Guilford College men’s basketball player Robert “Bob” Kauffman ’68 has been named to the 2025 Class of the Small College Basketball National Hall of Fame, becoming the third Quaker standout to achieve the honor.
A college All-American and former NBA player, coach and executive who died in 2015, Bob will be inducted to the Hall of Fame’s ninth class, posthumously, with 11 other members in a ceremony on October 31 at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla.
M.L. Carr ’73 and World B. Free ’76, who led Guilford to the 1973 NAIA National Championship, were inducted to the Small College Basketball National Hall of Fame in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Bob starred in the frontcourt for coach Jerry Steele’s men’s basketball teams from 1964-68 and was named to five different All-America squads as a senior in 1968. He helped turn Guilford into a national power that won 86 games in four years with successive NAIA Tournament berths.
A 6-8, 240-pound center, Bob scored 2,570 points on 64-percent field-goal shooting and collected 1,801 rebounds in his 113-game collegiate career. He had a career scoring average of 22.7 points per game, and a career rebounding average of 15.9 rebounds per game.
The Seattle SuperSonics made Bob the third overall pick in the 1968 NBA Draft. He played in the NBA from 1968-75 with four different teams: Seattle, Chicago Bulls, Buffalo Braves and Atlanta Hawks. He was a three-time NBA All-Star before retiring in 1975.
After his playing career ended, he spent two seasons as assistant general manager for Atlanta. He became the Detroit Pistons’ GM in 1977 and coached the team for part of the 1977-78 season before stepping away from both positions in 1978.
A History major from Scarsdale, N.Y., Bob was inducted into Guilford’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1973, and the College retired his jersey number (44) in 2009. He was inducted to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.
Bob was a resident of suburban Atlanta when he died in July 2015 at the age of 69.