Helser showed flashes of brilliance in baseball: McMinnville man was a star player and later coached Linfield to a national title
(Sources: Salem, Ore., Statesman Journal, newspaper, Oct. 27, 1994, with additional information from Wildcatville blog in 2020.)
Roy Helser, a baseball pitcher and later coach, made his mark in Salem and two other Willamette Valley communities.
Helser died Tuesday at his home in McMinnville of causes related to age. He was 83.
The left-hander played professional baseball for the Salem Senators of the Northwest League in 1940 and 1941.
Al Lightner, a longtime sports figure in Salem as a player, official and journalist, played with Helser on the Salem teams.
"He won 15 games for us on Salem's first professional team," Lightner said. "He was out to win. He wasn't a quitter."
Lightner said Helser played semipro with the Silverton Red Sox before joining the Senators. "I remember when he hit a ball at McGinnis Field (Silverton) that went the way up the tele phone pole and landed over on the railroad yards," Lightner said. "Not a lot of people knew it, but he could hit."
Lightner said the Senators sent a telegram trying to sell Helser to the Portland Beavers in 1942. "But they said he wasn't good enough," Lightner said.
Helser finally joined Portland in late 1942 after playing with the San Francisco Seals earlier that year. He stayed with Portland until 1952 and was a member of Portland's 1945 Pacific Coast League pennant winning team.
Helser was part of the team during the days when crowds packed the old Vaughn Street ballpark. He had consecutive 20-win seasons in 1944, '45 and '46.
Helser played semipro ball for the Drain Black Sox from 1951-53, and his catcher was Bill Beard, also a former Salem Senator. (Helser also was a Black Sox manager.) Beard, a three-sport star at Willamette from 1935-37, managed the Senators in 1949. Lightner said: "Almost every weekend, it would be Helser and Beard. That combination was hard to beat."
Helser taught and coached at Oregon high schools for two academic years. During the 1941-1942 academic year at Lebanon, Ore., High School he was head football, head boys’ basketball and head baseball coach. In Portland during the 1944-1945 academic year he was head boys’ basketball coach at Central Catholic High School.
Helser became a legend in McMinnville, where he was an athlete and later coached baseball at Linfield College.
Helser coached for 21 years, winning 14 Northwest Conference championships and the NAIA national title in 1966. He also was head basketball coach and assistant football coach at Linfield for several years. Helser was athletic director at Linfield for four years before retiring in 1972.
"He was one of the greatest competitors I have ever known," said Ad Rutschman, former Linfield football coach who played baseball and basketball for Helser at the school. Linfield's baseball field was named after Helser in a formal dedication in 1973.
Helser was named to the NAIA Hall of Fame and to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
Helser's family has asked that contributions be made to the Roy and Dorothy Helser Baseball Scholarship Fund at Linfield.
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ROY HERMAN HELSER
(Sources: By Wildcatville blog in December 2020 based on information from various sources.)
Born August 27, 1911, in Portland, Ore., Roy Herman Helser died at age 83 on Oct. 25, 1994, in the McMinnville, Ore., home he shared with his wife, Dorothy Evelyn Wall Helser.
Roy grew up in Portland, Ore. A variety of sports were an important part of his life from youth to old age. Out of the sports he played, baseball was his favorite. A left-handed fireball throwing pitcher, his nickname was “Lefty.” He was also called “The Bear” and “Bear.” As able as he was pitching, he also had a powerful bat producing many home runs and other hits.
Mr. Helser graduated from Benson High School in Portland in 1929 and was a member of Linfield College (McMinnville, Ore.,) Class of 1936.
After graduating from Benson he didn't immediately start classes, in 1929, as a freshman at Linfield. Instead, he began classes as a freshman at Linfield in 1932. It was the Depression when he graduated from Benson. It’s assumed he worked to earn money to attend college before enrolling at Linfield.
He left Linfield in 1936 to play professional baseball. He returned to Linfield in 1941 and earned his diploma in that year from Linfield.
At Benson, Roy played football and basketball. It's assumed he played baseball for Benson, too, but information confirming that hard to find. At Linfield as a student, Roy Helser played football, basketball and baseball, earning 11 Linfield cardinal athletic letters.
It was at Linfield that he met Dorothy, a student from Bremerton, Wash. They married Aug.11, 1935, in Kitsap County, Wash. Dorothy died at age 98 on Nov. 20, 2013, in McMinnville.
Roy and Dorothy were the first married couple to attend Linfield together which required approval from Elam Anderson, Linfield College president. The Helsers were members of Linfield Class of 1936 but, she graduated in 1936 and he in 1941.
Roy played professional baseball for the Portland Beavers and other teams for more than 10 years while Dorothy and Roy raised three children. Following Roy's baseball retirement, the family moved from Portland to McMinnville where Roy coached at Linfield.
As head baseball coach he led he Linfield Wildcats in 1966 to the NAIA national baseball title. It was the college’s first national title. In 21 seasons, 1950-1970, his baseball teams won 14 Northwest Conference championships, six second-places and one third-place finish. He also coached the 1941 Linfield baseball team.
He also was co-head coach with Paul Durham (1949-1952) and later head coach (1952-1961) of Linfield men’s basketball. Those teams won four Northwest Conference titles. He also was an assistant football coach on Wildcat teams coached by Durham.
Roy Helser “also made a mark as a semi-pro player and manager in a time when that carried considerable weight, first with the Silverton Red Sox, then with the Drain Black Sox (in Oregon)," said a 1994 Oregonian story reflecting on his life.
After retiring as baseball coach after the 1970 season, he served as Linfield director of athletics (1968-1973).
He’s a member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame. Helser Field, home of Linfield baseball on the McMinnville campus, is named for him. In addition he is enshrined in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) National Hall of Fame and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
Roy and Dorothy retired to their beach house on the Oregon coast at Devil’s Lake in 1973. While loved living there, they moved back to McMinnville in 1987.
Survivors include his wife; sons, J. Dennis of Salem and Roy Jr. of Portland; daughter, Susan Petersen of Tualatin; brother, Morris of Tigard; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Read more about Roy Helser at …
…the Volga Germans of Portland: https://www.volgagermansportland.info/roy-helser.html
…the Linfield College Athletics Hall of Fame: https://golinfieldwildcats.com/honors/linfield-athletics-hall-of-fame/roy-helser/4
… the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame: http://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/roy-helser-baseball
…
About a photo posted here … BOTH PACKARDS, BOTH HELSERS: Morrie (left) and Roy Helser, brothers, lend scoring power to Portland’s Pacific Packards independent basketball team, which will honor their sponsor, Joe Sherman, Monday night when they play Hop Gold in the American league. (Oregon Journal, Portland, Ore., Dec 13, 1936).
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Obituary: Roy H. Helser
Aug. 27, 1911-Oct 25, 1994
(Sources: Salem, Ore., Statesman Journal, newspaper, Oct. 26, 1994, with additional information from Wildcatville blog in 2020.)
McMINNVILLE - Roy H. Helser, 83, died Tuesday.
He was born in Portland and graduated from Linfield College in 1941. He was a three-sport letter winner in football, basketball and baseball. He played professional baseball with the Salem Senators in 1940 and 1941.
Helser taught and coached at Oregon high schools for two academic years. During the 1941-1942 academic year at Lebanon, Ore., High School he was head football, head boys’ basketball and head baseball coach. In Portland during the 1944-1945 academic year he was head boys’ basketball coach at Central Catholic High School.
In 1943 he signed with the Portland Beavers and played for nine years, during which he had three seasons of 20 or more wins as a pitcher.
Helser taught at Linfield beginning in 1949 and coached basketball; baseball and assisted in football. His baseball teams (1950-1970) had 14 Northwest Conference wins, six second-place wins, and one third-place finish.
His baseball teams had 14 Northwest Conference wins, six second-place wins, and one third-place finish. The 1966 team won the NAIA national championship, the first ever Linfield sports team to do so.
He was Linfield athletic director, 1968-1973, leaving the post upon retirement.
Helser is a member of the Linfield Athletic Hall of Fame, the NAIA National Hall of Fame and to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Linfield's baseball field is named after him.
He was a member of Kiwanis and the Active in the Old Timers Baseball Association.
Married to Dorothy (Wall) Helser in 1935 in Bremerton, Wash., they lived in Lincoln City from 1973 to 1987 when they returned to McMinnville.
Survivors include his wife; sons, J. Dennis of Salem and Roy Jr. of Portland; daughter, Susan Petersen of Tualatin; brother, Morris of Tigard; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Memorial services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the First Baptist Church. Private family interment will be in Evergreen Memorial Park Mausoleum. Arrangements are by Macy & Son mortuary.
Contributions may be made to the Roy and Dorothy Helser Baseball Scholarship at Linfield College in care of the mortuary.
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Plaque at Linfield baseball's Helser Field
