Dr. Paul Kilburn (C’50)

Well-known for his contributions on the football and baseball fields, Paul was best known for his feats on the basketball court, where he set a career scoring record of 1,120 points—a record that stood for 14 years. Paul was a letterman for four years in football and basketball and for his last two years in baseball. He ranked second in team scoring his freshman year on the basketball team, going on to capture the lead his sophomore year with 316 points. That year, he also had both the highest average number of points per game (15.1) and the highest total number of points for any one game (29). Paul served as basketball team captain his senior year, winning the MVP trophy and the Charles F. Buckwalter Award, which, at the time, recognized the College’s most valuable player of the year.

After college, Paul served two years in the U.S. Army before founding his own environmental consulting and landscaping business. He holds two master’s degrees and a doctorate in botany and conservation from the University of Michigan. Returning to Principia in 1959, Dr. Kilburn taught botany and conservation at the College until 1971, taking a year’s leave in 1965 for study and research in Great Britain with a grant from the National Science Foundation.