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Right time for Wheaton North to honor Helm

Fifty is a magical number.

Wheaton North is in the midst of its 50th anniversary. Saturday it'll honor a man there at the beginning, Wheaton North's first athletic director and boys basketball coach, Dick Helm.

Following other homecoming events at the school, at 11:30 a.m. Saturday current boys basketball coach Dave Brackmann will host a ceremony at the front entrance to the main gym saluting Helm. Introducing the Atlanta resident will be another prominent former Falcon, Randy Pfund.

From Wheaton North to Wheaton College to the National Basketball Association, for 50 years the Helm and Pfund names have been intertwined.

"My first memories of Coach Helm were on the sidelines at Wheaton North, especially with him coaching (Pfund's brother) Kerry," said Randy, who helped the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat win NBA titles as, respectively, an assistant coach and general manager.

Helm promoted Randy Pfund to the varsity as a sophomore in the 1967-68 season and the Falcons won a regional before losing to future NBA player Jim Brewer and Proviso East. Helm also assisted another Wheaton North legend, Jim Rexilius, in the football program.

"I think as a head coach he had that combination of toughness and an ability to be disciplined, then he had that ability to turn around and put his arm around you and encourage you. I think he had good instincts," said Randy Pfund, who has homes in Warrenville and Irvine, Calif.

Helm coached 14 years at Wheaton North, then went on to Judson College, to his alma mater Wheaton College - where in 1975 he succeeded Randy's father, Lee Pfund, atop the men's basketball program - and assisted at North Central College. (Incidentally, Randy said Lee Pfund, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945, turned 95 last weekend; according to a Wikipedia entry he's the fourth-oldest living Dodger.)

Helm had a long career also as right-hand man to Lenny Wilkens, joining the NBA Hall of Famer in Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto and New York. He was a scout and coach for Randy Pfund's Miami Heat from 1998-2002 and in a 50-year career as a basketball instructor conducted clinics in China, Australia, Greece, Spain, Argentina.

Randy Pfund recalled the 1989 NBA All-Star game in Houston when he was part of Pat Riley's staff coaching the West squad and Helm was with Wilkens coaching the East.

"I only tell that story because the West won, thanks to Karl Malone," Randy Pfund said.

Helm's honors included Wheaton College class president, treasurer of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Association Executive Committee and the Federation of Christian Athletes' Ohio Man of the Year. He is in three halls of fame.

Randy Pfund noted the "uniqueness" of assistants like Helm.

"You have to understand you're not the boss, so you have to have support for your head coach," Randy Pfund said. "But there's also times where you're a professional basketball coach where you have to stand up and let players know you know your stuff. Obviously, he did it very well."

It started at Wheaton North, where henceforth the most valuable boys basketball player will earn the Helm Award and with it a college scholarship.

"He was the first athletic director at Wheaton North," Randy Pfund said, "and I think that's significant."

Spartan up

St. Francis basketball is hosting its fourth annual Youth Coaching Clinic at the school, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22.

Targeting coaches of boys and girls youth teams, coaches from St. Francis' boys and girls programs will demonstrate offensive and defensive drills and strategies. It's a free event.

Spartans boys coach Bob Ward noted all attendees are welcome at a post-clinic get-together for refreshments and round ball talk at The Bank Restaurant in Wheaton.

He'd rather switch then fight

Scott Piersma is a 2004 Illiana Christian graduate. He saw the light and is now in his fourth year in the Timothy Christian girls volleyball program, his second season as varsity coach.

He's got the Trojans challenging the 2011 program wins mark when they went 35-4-1 and reached a Class 2A supersectional.

Avenging this season's sole loss in a three-game win over Chicago Christian on Tuesday, Timothy is 27-1. The Trojans are 3-0 in tournaments and this weekend at Plano seek to extend that streak to six straight tournament titles dating to last season.

"My goal is to obviously beat 35 wins," said Piersma, whose squad will play a minimum of 36 matches, including at least one in Class 3A regional play; the Trojans are the top seed at the Nazareth sectional.

"My goal would be to hopefully make it downstate. Especially to do it in 3A would be really phenomenal for us," he said.

A tall, senior-based lineup helps. Outside and right-side hitter Kacie Stoll and libero Hanna Markewycz are four-year starters and among eight seniors on the team. Senior Kaitlyn Gerke and sophomore Ava Venema each stand 6-foot-2, Piersma said, and three other girls go at least 6 feet.

"When we can use everybody we are really, really hard to stop because the other teams don't know where we're going," said Piersma, a Villa Park resident. "We're able to keep them on their toes."

Chicago Christian stopped Timothy in the 2011 Class 2A supersectional, and if the seeds play out the teams would face each other at the Class 3A Tinley Park supersectional Nov. 8.

"That'd be interesting for Kacie and Hanna to see them as freshmen and then again as seniors with a chance to go downstate," Piersma said.

Pretty tough in pink

In an October 2013 football game Lake Park players came out accessorized in pink socks, gloves and wristbands to show support for breast cancer awareness.

Lancers coach Chris Roll found those accoutrements to be more fashion statement, style over substance.

This Friday Lake Park's varsity is making a bolder statement - pink jerseys.

"If we're going to support breast cancer we're doing to do it all the way, and we're going to play for other people," Roll said. "There's no doubt when you walk out in a pink jersey that you're playing for someone else."

Roll's wife, Kara, is of like mind. Her mother, Kay, is a breast cancer survivor. So was Kara's grandmother.

Leader of Lake Park's J. Kyle Braid Leadership Foundation chapter and of the "Lancer Nation" spirit movement instituted by Lake Park's "JKB kids," Kara and her charges have been selling pink T-shirts with $5 from each sale going to the InGENEus Project and Stroger Hospital in Chicago. The InGENEus Project is a nonprofit organization started by Sharon Hower, mother of former Lake Park player John Hower. It pays for genetic testing for women to see if they're predisposed to breast cancer, a prodecure not generally covered by insurance.

Lake Park's 2013 effort raised about $1,500. This year, between T-shirt sales, other fundraising efforts and proceeds from the pink jerseys - which the players pay for and keep - the goal is more like $4,000.

Roll has grander plans in the future. Right now, though, he also has social studies classes to teach while trying to lead a football team to a conference title and a playoff berth.

"I always try to make things about more than football but here we are, playing Naperville Central for first place in the DuPage Valley," he said. "But we're also thinking about other things."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1

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