‘He related to everybody:’ Friends, coaches, athletes mourn Baldwin track and field coach Ed Helbig

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, August 28, 2024 | 4:05 PM

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Ed Helbig didn’t need to yell or get loud to motivate his athletes, yet the longtime Baldwin coach’s voice was certainly the biggest in WPIAL track and field.

A Baldwin track coach for 49 years and chairman of the WPIAL committee overseeing the sport, Helbig died Tuesday. His calming demeanor and a natural ability to connect with others enabled him to motivate the best out of his athletes, said those who knew him.

Helbig was 72.

“He related to everybody,” said Art Walker, a 1988 Baldwin graduate and football coach at North Allegheny. “He had such a great sense of humor, so he could always make you laugh. He never really yelled at anybody, but you could tell when he wasn’t happy. He motivated you. He just made you really believe you could do more than you thought.”

Helbig for more than a year fought a difficult battle with esophageal cancer, which required the growth in his throat to be scraped out repeatedly. He’d also developed a heart issue that last month required surgeons to implant a pacemaker, said longtime friend and coaching colleague Rich Wright.

He said Helbig collapsed at home Tuesday.

Helbig had underwent the latest scraping of his esophagus earlier in the day, yet talked with the WPIAL office on the ride home about plans for next track season, which Wright said showed his love and dedication for the sport.

“He dedicated his life to kids as a teacher and as a coach,” Wright said. “He was dedicated to the betterment of track and field throughout the entire state. He should be known for everything that he did and for the way he treated kids.”

Helbig was chosen last winter for induction into the Baldwin Athletic Hall of Fame. He was entering his 50th year as a track and field coach in the district, serving as an assistant for 19 years and then head coach for 30. He was also Baldwin’s indoor track coach for 27 years.

His favorite motivational message at practice was to “Get one day better.”

Under his coaching, Baldwin won two WPIAL team championships, was runner-up five times and earned 38 section titles. His list of individual gold medalists included 75 WPIAL champions and 15 PIAA titlists.

“When I think of the quintessential coach, that was Ed Helbig,” said Josh Deakin, who won 800-meter titles at the WPIAL and PIAA championships in 1991. “Anyone can sign up to be a coach. But as you get older in life and look back with the benefit of hindsight, you see the differences that someone like Ed made.”

Helbig was a respected member of the WPIAL track/cross country committee for decades and was asked to become chairman a few years ago. Along with organizing the long-running Baldwin Invitational and hosting the WPIAL championships for three decades, Helbig volunteered at various meets all around Western Pennsylvania.

“He was in it for the kids and the sport,” said WPIAL administrator Vince Sortino, who previously worked closely with Helbig as a former athletic director at Baldwin. “In all the years I’ve known him, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the guy raise his voice or get angry or lose his temper. That was his demeanor. He loved people, he loved the kids and he wanted to move the sport in the right direction.”

The WPIAL is heartbroken to hear about the passing of @BaldwinAthDept track coach Ed Helbig. Ed was the kindest human and a legend in the sport, coaching Baldwin for 49 years and chairing our committee. Our condolences to his family and all who he had impacted over his life.

— WPIAL (@wpial7) August 28, 2024

Sortino said the WPIAL will honor Helbig at its cross country and track championships. Wright, who organizes the Red, White and Blue cross country meet, said Helbig will be remembered there, as well.

“He is an icon,” Baldwin athletic director Anthony Cherico said. “He is an icon to the sport. He is an icon in the Baldwin community. There is a reason there are 100 to 150 kids on his team every year.”

Helbig is survived by his wife, Lynne, daughters Jessica Adams and Aimee Maher and six grandchildren.

Walker, who won a WPIAL hurdles title as a senior, remembered Helbig as a tremendous motivator. Running against Walker in the finals was Penn Hills record-setter Dion Bentley, a member of the WPIAL Hall of Fame.

“Ed always believed I could beat him,” Walker said. “I came from behind to win … and Ed was the first one to greet me.”

Walker met Helbig in sixth grade as his middle school wrestling coach, had him as a ninth-grade football coach and later joining the track team.

“Outside of my father, Ed Helbig made the biggest athletic impact on me,” said Walker, a winner of seven WPIAL football titles. “He was an unbelievable motivator and probably the most sincere coach I’ve ever had. You knew where he stood, and he cared about you. He was so consistent because it was who he was.”

Our hearts are profoundly heavy as we mourn the loss of our coach, mentor, teacher, colleague, and friend, Coach Ed Helbig. Please keep his family in your thoughts and your prayers. We will continue to “get one day better” for you Coach- we love you. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Mi73Uw51r6

— Baldwin HS XC (@BHSXC4) August 28, 2024

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Baldwin