Clyde Helmer | |||
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Personal information | |||
Full name | Reginald Clyde Helmer | ||
Date of birth | 22 April 1916 | ||
Place of birth | Mooroopna, Victoria | ||
Date of death | 24 April 1945 | (aged 29)||
Place of death | Aitape, New Guinea | ||
Original team(s) | Mooroopna | ||
Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||
Weight | 80 kg (176 lb) | ||
Playing career1 | |||
Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
1937–1941 | Geelong | 71 (137) | |
1942 | Melbourne | 2 (3) | |
Total | 73 (140) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1942. | |||
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com |
Reginald Clyde Helmer (22 April 1916 – 24 April 1945) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Geelong and Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The son of Nils Helmer (1882-1967), and Eva May Helmer (1887-1971), née Hill, Reginald Clyde Helmer was born at Mooroopna on 22 April 1916. He was the nephew of Reginald Valentine Hill, D.S.O.,[1] the cousin of Fred Hawking, and the uncle of Geelong footballer John Helmer.
He married Marjorie Mary Frances Gibson (1919-1983), later Mrs. Maurice Steeth, in 1944.
A forward, Helmer could torpedo punt on either foot.
In 1937 he played a centre half-forward in the Geelong Second XVIII team that won the Second's premiership.
In 1938, just his second league season, topped Geelong's goalkicking with 74 goals. In a game that year against Fitzroy he kicked a career best eight goals.
On 29 July 1939 he played at centre half-forward for Victoria against South Australia.
He crossed to Melbourne in 1942 but could only manage two games.[2]
In 1944 he played for the South Sydney Australian Football Club in the New South Wales Football League.
During World War II Helmer was a Temporary Warrant Officer in the Australian Army and lost his life in New Guinea after a bomb he was trying to defuse exploded.
On 5 May 1945, a minute's silence was observed in Helmer's memory before the match between the South Sydney and RAAF teams at Trumper Park Oval in Paddington, New South Wales.[3]