Art Helf attended Mepham High School on New York's Long Island,where he was the Long Island high school wrestling champion at 121pounds. He matriculated at Franklin and Marshall in the fall of1949, but NCAA rules prohibited freshmen from competing on varsityteams. During that year, however, Helf participated in the PanAmerican Games wrestling team trials, losing in the final round.Because of his outstanding performance, he was named as analternate to the Pan American Games hosted by Argentina, but didnot get the opportunity to participate.
During his three-year career, Helf fashioned an exceptionalregular-season dual meet record of 20-9, with seven falls, againstoutstanding competition. He is one of only a handful of F&Mwrestlers to never miss a dual meet during his career, although ashoulder injury limited his port-season participation in 1953. Hefinished an outstanding career with a fourth place finish at 115pounds in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA)tournament hosted by Princeton University. In the NCAAchampionships hosted by Penn State, Helf battled his way to afourth place finish, losing to four-time national champion JohnPerry of Pittsburgh, 2-1. At the completion of his senior year,
Helf was named the recipient of the "Uncle Charlie" MayserAward, presented to the outstanding wrestler in that year's team.In addition to wrestling, Helf was also a contributing member ifthe F&M cross country team. Helf earned his bachelor's degreein geology in 1954 and later would receive a master's of educationfrom Hofstra University. He has worked in public education andcurrently is a counselor in the Brentwood, N.Y. public schoolsystem.
