Vern Huffman

{{Short description|American football and basketball player (1914–1995)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Vern Huffman

| image = Vern Huffman.jpg

| caption = Huffman in his Indiana basketball uniform, circa 1936

| number = 6

| position = Halfback
Quarterback

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|12|18}}

| birth_place = Mooreland, Indiana, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|3|18|1914|12|18}}

| death_place = Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 2

| weight_lb = 215

| high_school = New Castle
(New Castle, Indiana)

| college = Indiana

| draftyear = 1937

| draftround = 3

| draftpick = 27

| pastteams = * Detroit Lions ({{NFL Year|1937|1938}})

| highlights = * Chicago Tribune Silver Football (1936)

• First-team All-Big Ten (1936)
• Indiana Hoosiers Hall of Fame (1982)

| statlabel1 = Rushing yards

| statvalue1 = 368

| statlabel2 = Rushing average

| statvalue2 = 3.5

| statlabel3 = Receptions

| statvalue3 = 9

| statlabel4 = Receiving yards

| statvalue4 = 121

| statlabel5 = Passing yards

| statvalue5 = 484

| statlabel6 = TD-INT

| statvalue6 = 3-14

| pfr = HuffVe20

}}

Richard Vernon Huffman (December 18, 1914 – March 18, 1995) was an American football and basketball player. He was born in Mooreland, Indiana and was raised in and around New Castle, Indiana.

He played basketball for the New Castle High School team that won the Indiana state basketball championship in 1932.{{cite news|title=VERNON HUFFMAN, IU FOOTBALL STAR OF '30S, DIES AT AGE 80|newspaper=News-Sentinel (Ft. Wayne, IN)|date=1995-03-20|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=FW&s_site=fortwayne&p_multi=FW&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB6CCEE01CF6DBA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM}} He enrolled at Indiana University in 1932 and played both football and basketball there. He was an All-American in both basketball and football at Indiana and won the 1936 Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the best football player in the Big Ten Conference.

He was drafted in the third round of the 1937 NFL Draft.{{Cite web |title=1937 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1937/draft.htm |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} He played two seasons of professional football in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions in 1937 and 1938.{{cite web|title=Vern Huffman profile|publisher=pro-football-reference.com|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HuffVe20.htm|access-date=2010-04-05}}{{cite news|title=Huffman Big Ten's 'Most Valuable'|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=1936-12-27|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rVIbAAAAIBAJ&pg=4262,4639016&dq=vernon-huffman+indiana&hl=en}} Huffman later managed a dairy and worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.{{cite web|title=Indiana University Oral History Archive, 1991–1998|publisher=Indiana University|url=http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?brand=general&docId=ohrc072&chunk.id=d1e2783&startDoc=1|access-date=2010-04-05}} He was inducted into the Indiana Hoosiers Hall of Fame in 1982.{{cite web|title=Hall of Fame – 1982 Inductees|publisher=Indiana University|url=http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/trads/ind-trads-hof-1982.html|access-date=2012-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107080849/http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/trads/ind-trads-hof-1982.html|archive-date=2012-01-07|url-status=dead}} Huffman died in 1995 at age 80 in Bloomington, Indiana.

Huffman's brother Marv was also an All-American basketball player at Indiana and later played professionally with the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots of the National Basketball League.{{cite book |last=Hiner |first=Jason |date=2013 |title=Indiana University Basketball Encyclopedia |isbn=9781613216170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gQnAgAAQBAJ&q=%22marv+huffman%22+vern&pg=PT374 |access-date=April 16, 2017}}