Howard Helfrich, GBN's 1st Athletic Director, Dies

Howard F. Helfrich, a founding faculty member at Glenbrook North High School and the school’s first athletic director, died on July 22 of metastatic lung cancer at a Lincolnshire retirement community. He was 90.

Helfrich, who taught physical education and coached basketball and tennis at the school over the course of 38 years, is remembered at being “ahead of his time” by family, according to the Northbrook Star.

“He introduced his students to what back then was the emerging field of sports science, including the concept of biofeedback therapy. He understood the importance of positivity, of the mind and body connection, and how it relates to sports,” his son Gene, a former assistant principal at New Trier High School, remembers.

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He introduced courses such as Stress Management and Life Sports into the school’s curriculum and led his 1981 tennis team to a state championship title.

In 1989, Helfrich was inducted into the Illinois Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame, and two years later retired from GBN.

“He’d always find a way to make me laugh and that game was no different,” said Ken Kozil, who was a pitcher on the school’s 1966 baseball team, which won the state championship. “As he was going for a rebound, he put his elbow right on the top of my head. He smiled, shrugged his shoulders and then told me to ‘get a bit taller.’ “

more via the Northbrook Star