Alan Helffrich

Alan Boone Helffrich ( born August 7, 1900 in Yonkers, New York, † February 3, 1994 ) was an American athlete who was successful as a 800 - meter runner in the early 1920s. He started for the Pennsylvania State University. ( Completion 1925). His coaches were Gus Kirberger at the Yonkers High School and Nathanael John Courtmell at the university.

Career

His first victory he achieved the Junior 880 y at the Westchester County Championships. He also won at the Junior Metropolitan AAU, the Middle Atlantic Interscholastic Championships and the National Interscholastic Championships Inddor. In the AAU championships over 880 y 1920 he placed fifth. In the following years, he won six times the title:

• AAU: 1921 ( 1:56,6 min ), 1922 ( 1:56,3 min) and 1925 ( 1:54,8 min); In 1923 he was runner-up.
• NCAA: 1922 ( 1:58,1 min) and 1923 ( 1:56,3 min)
• NC4A: 1923 ( 1:55,8 min. )

There is also a victory in 1924 over 440 y ( 50.1 s ). He was also five times more than 600 y wins in a row at the Millrose Games in New York.

He ran multiple world record:

• As a member of the 2 -mile relay at the Penn Relays 1923
• As a member of the Distance Medley Relay Penn State teams
• In the hall about 500, 600 and 800 meters and over 600 y

In the VIII Summer Olympics in Paris in 1924 he was a member of the 4 × 400 m relay, which in the cast Commodore Cochran, Alan Helffrich as the second runner, Oliver MacDonald and William Stevenson in the world record time of 3:16,0 min by a large margin ahead of Sweden and Great Britain won the gold medal.

For the individual championships in the 800 meters - the finale reached no less than four Americans - Helffrich was not reported. In 1925 he succeeded as the only Americans a victory over the famous Finn Paavo Nurmi ( over 880 y; Nurmi played in the United States a total of 52 races). From 1918 to 1919 he served with the 9th Coast Defense Command. After the end of his career he was a sports official. Furthermore, he was, until his death at the age of 93 years Chairman of the Olympians clubs in upstate New York. Alan Helffrich had four brothers.