A new plaque at Linfield’s Jim Wright Stadium honors Linfielder Roy Helser, namesake of Helser Field, where the Wildcats play their home baseball games.
Replacing a less dynamic plaque at the same location, the new plaque was made possible thanks to donors.
Text on the new plaque, affixed on side of the campus-located stadium next to Lever Street, reads:
HELSER FIELD
Renovated and Dedicated
APRIL 18, 1987
IN HONOR OF ROY H. HELSER, ‘36
(Note from Wildcatville. Roy Helser was a member of Linfield Class of 1936. However, he graduated from Linfield in 1941.)
Roy Helser graduated from Linfield College in 1936 after earning 11 letters in football, basketball and baseball. He was a faculty member, coach and athletic director from 1949-73. His career record over 21 seasons as head baseball coach (1949-1970) was 322-195-6. It included 14 Northwest Conference championships and an NAIA national championship in 1966.
From 1937 to 1951, Helser was a professional baseball pitcher, most notably with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League where he compiled a record of 121-106.
Photos by Wildcatville except for Google Maps photo from August 2011 showing the original plaque and its location.
For more about Helser Field, visit the Linfield Athletics website:
For more about Roy Helser and his wife, Dorothy, see these Wildcatville postings:
--‘Knowns’ and some ‘not well knowns’ about Roy Helser (posted March 25, 2016)
--Roy Helser, Beaver pitcher & Linfield coach, dies at 83 (posted July 18, 2009, story by Linfielder Ken Wheeler originally appeared in Oct. 26, 1994, Oregonian.)
--Passing of Linfielder Dorothy Helser, memorial service Dec. 14 (posted Nov. 16, 2013)
--Dorothy Helser remembers Roy and Linfield (posted June 3, 2008, story by Linfielder Starla Pointer appeared in May 3, 2008, McMinnville N-R/News-Register).
--Wildcat baseball, softball honor six former Linfield baseball players (posted Feb. 12, 2014)
POSTSCRIPT:
When what is now Helser Field originally went into use in
1971 – it was named for Helser in 1973 -- there was one scoreboard serving both
baseball and football at adjacent Maxwell Field. Strategically located, it was
on a post which allowed it to swivel to serve football in the fall and baseball
in the spring.
