The Origins of "Doofus"

If you have attended Big East basketball games in recent years, you have likely heard large Caucasian players on visiting teams serenaded with cheers of “doofus.” Most dictionaries do not include “doofus” as an official word, but it remains widely used in the vernacular. In the basketball sense, a doofus is best defined as a large, lumbering, white center or power forward.

The doofus phenomenon has mostly developed over the past 20 years. In the days of Bob Cousy and Jerry West, white basketball players were not considered a novelty, therefore making doofuses impossible. An important component of doofus-dom is badly sticking out amongst other players. The decline and retirement of Larry Bird was what finally made it possible for the doofus image to take hold.

It is difficult to identify an original doofus, but if we were to pinpoint the player who most put doofuses on the map, it would be former Indiana Pacer Rik Smits. Smits, a 7’ 4” native of the Netherlands, played center for the Pacers from 1988-2000. With the bulk of his career being inthe Jordan era, when baggy shorts became the norm, Smits, with his trademark high black socks, stuck out more than a New Jersey guido in Amish country. During this same time frame, we must also take note of Shawn Bradley; the man who was 7’6” and wore #76 for the 76ers, a feat that will likely never be topped.

Today, thanks to the likes of David Lee, Aaron Gray and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the doofus brand is alive and well in the NBA. However, it is in the college game that the doofus is strongest. Several doofuses have risen to prominence in recent years; most notably UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough and Kansas’ Cole Aldrich. Doofuses ranging from star players to bench warmers fill rosters across the country, all sharing the same skill set of rebounding, inside scoring, and attracting the derision of opposing fans. Doofuses are well established throughout the sport, and are not going away anytime soon.