Ken Hobart

Collegiate career

Hobart played college football at the University of Idaho from 1980–1983, starting at quarterback for the Vandals for four seasons. The first two were in the veer option offense under Jerry Davitch, and the final two in a passing attack under new head coach Dennis Erickson. In Erickson's first season in 1982, Hobart led the Vandals to an 8–3 record in the regular season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the twelve-team Division I-AA playoffs, falling on the road 30–38 to eventual champion Eastern Kentucky, and was named offensive player of the year in the Big Sky Conference. In Hobart's senior season of 1983, the Vandals again went 8–3, but lost all three games in conference and were not selected for the national playoffs. Throwing for over 10,000 yards in his collegiate career, he was a Division I-AA All-American in 1983.

Hailing from tiny Kamiah (KAMM-ee-eye) on the Clearwater River in north central Idaho, Hobart was a bespeckled 155-pound (70 kg) wishbone quarterback at Kamiah High School and led the Kubs to the A-3 (now 2A) state title in his senior season. After graduation in 1979, he enrolled at Lewis–Clark State College in Lewiston with the intent of playing college baseball as a pitcher and outfielder for the Warriors.

After a semester, Hobart transferred thirty miles (50 km) north to UI in Moscow in January 1980 and walked-on the football team to become the starting quarterback in his redshirt freshman season. Nicknamed the "Kamiah Kid" by longtime Vandal broadcaster Bob Curtis, Hobart also competed for the Idaho track team in the decathlon and still ranks as one of the top decathletes in the school's history, a program which later produced Dan O'Brien. (Idaho dropped baseball as a varsity sport in May 1980.) After his football eligibility was used up, he was also asked to play basketball for the Vandals in January 1984. Hobart graduated in the spring with a bachelor's degree in management.

After losses to rival Boise State in his first two seasons, Hobart led the Vandals to two wins under Erickson; this began a winning streak over the Broncos which reached twelve games in 1993.

Hobart was a charter member of the Vandal Hall of Fame, inducted in 2007.

Professional career

Hobart started his professional football career in 1984 with the Jacksonville Bulls of the USFL, as a second round pick in the 1984 USFL Draft. and signed a contract in January. He was traded to the Denver Gold, and was selected tenth in the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft by the New York Jets, but never played in the NFL.

As the USFL folded in 1985, Hobart moved north to Canada, where he played for five seasons in the CFL, three with Hamilton and two with Ottawa. The Edmonton Eskimos originally held his CFL rights, and he was traded in June 1985 to Hamilton. That season, he set the CFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback (928) a total that has since only been surpassed 5 times and was winner of the Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy and runner up as CFL MVP. He was a member of the Hamilton's Grey Cup championship team in 1986, then broke his left fibula in the second game of the 1987 season.

After a brief stint in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers in 1988, he stayed and sold cars in San Diego, then returned to the CFL for two seasons with Ottawa.

Personal

Following his playing career, Hobart returned to north central Idaho and resides in Lewiston with his wife Valerie and three children, Zane, Klaree, and Laney.

After his first season in Canada in 1985, Hobart returned to his hometown to co-coach the Kamiah boys basketball team for a season.