The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/839845
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, June 21, 2017 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net A documentary produced by Pe- tersburg resident Tim Helfen has been selected as one of more than 80 independent films that will be screened during the 14th Annual Indy Film Fest, set for July 13-23 at the Indiana Museum of Art in Indianapolis. Helfen's 100 -minute documen- tary – "We are E.C.: The Untold Story of East Chicago Basketball" – focuses on high school hoops in the northwestern Indiana city, which has produced over 100 Di- vision I basketball players, 21 In- diana All-Stars, seven profession- al basketball players – six in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and one in the American Basketball Association (ABA) – and four boys' state champion- ship teams. "It is a tremendous honor and thrill to be selected," said the 42-year-old Helfen. "The Indy Film Fest selects and showcases independent films from around the world. Being selected is an award in itself." "It will be a great experience to meet other filmmakers, watch a lot of great movies, and to have a won- derful time," Helfen added. While he was born and raised in Petersburg, Helfen – who graduat- ed from Pike Central High School in 1993 – has strong family ties to East Chicago, a steel mill town of 30,000 people that is home to more than 70 nationalities. "My dad was born in East Chica- go," Helfen said. "My grandmother – his mom – was raised in East Chi- cago. And my great-grandparents were Romanian immigrants who settled in East Chicago." Even after Helfen's parents, John and Kay Helfen, moved to Pe- tersburg in 1973, they frequently returned to East Chicago –which was and still is known locally as "Da Region" – to visit family. As a result, Helfen grew up hear- ing stories about East Chicago's great basketball tradition, which, to date, includes four boys' state champions – East Chicago Wash- ington in 1960 under Johnnie Baratto; East Chicago Roosevelt in 1970 under Bill Holzbach; East Chicago Washington in 1971 un- der John Molodet; and East Chica- go Central in 2007 under Pete Tr- govich, a member of the 1971 East Chicago Washington team who went on to win two NCA A titles at UCL A, where he played for the leg- endary coach, John Wooden. "My grandmother always kept scrapbooks, not only family al- bums, but just East Chicago and 'Da Region' news articles and stuff like that, and I was always some- what fascinated by that," Helfen said. "Her brother – my great-un- cle – was a long-time teacher in the East Chicago schools, so I would hear a lot about East Chicago, and the sports and basketball tradition growing up." Graduating from the Universi- ty of Evansville with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics in 1997, Helfen earned a Master of Business Administration Degree at Loyola University Chicago one year later. Helfen subsequently remained in the East Chicago area for a few years – during which he worked for a financial money manage- ment company – before deciding to move back to Pike County and become a teacher. A fter two years at Pike Central, followed by one year at Wood Me- morial, Helfen just completed his third year as an English teacher at Vincennes Lincoln. "Teaching's a second career for me, or kind of a transition, but, whether I was working in business or teaching, I've always loved mov- ies, especially documentaries," said Helfen. "I'm a big documen- tary film buff." "I've always thought that East Chicago basketball would be a great topic for a documentary," Helfen continued. "Finally, I just decided – after a lot of research and talking to people – that, 'Hey, I can do this. I can go interview people. I can hire editors and vid- eographers.'" "With teaching, the great thing is you have freedom in the sum- mers to do a lot of stuff, and I'm a guy that always likes to stay busy. So I just thought, 'I can do this. I can take the time necessary to do it the right way.' Because the people we interviewed, I owed it to them to do it the right way, and make it the absolute highest qual- ity production that we could." Helfen said that he began doing research for his documentary film approximately three years ago be- fore teaming up with videographer Bud Osborne, owner of A-V-A Pro- ductions in Indianapolis, to begin doing interviews. "I got a lot of newspaper articles from the Hammond Times up there and from the Indy Star – almost any article I could find – and tried to get the old rosters and histories of players and where they played," Helfen said. "We did a couple of in- terviews and, after the first two or three interviews, I really thought, 'Okay, we have something here.'" "And just reaching out to peo- ple, it kind of snowballed. One guy knew another guy. One guy would get me in touch with this guy. When I started this, I hon- estly created a list of about 20 to 25 people, and I thought, if I can get six or seven of these people to talk to me ... I got everybody to talk to me." One of Helfen's early con- tacts was Junior Bridgeman, who helped lead the 1971 East Chicago Washington Senators to an unde- feated state championship season, led the University of Louisville to the NCA A Final Four in 1975, and played 12 seasons in the NBA. Bridgeman currently is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the United States, with more than 160 Wendy's and more than 120 Chili's franchises. "(He) doesn't give a whole lot of interviews, but he was on board from the beginning," Heflen said. "I reached out to his office. They called me right away and said he St. Vincent Northside Crossing A Comprehensive Outpatient Center Designed for Your Health & Well-Being The newest addition to the St. Vincent family of services, St. Vincent Northside Crossing is located on the corner of Inglefield Road and Highway 41. This new location provides the Evansville's Northside and surrounding communities with easy and convenient access to services. St. Vincent is devoted to a variety of outpatient health and wellness services, all seamlessly connected to create an exceptional healthcare experience. SERVICES AT NORTHSIDE CROSSING INCLUDE: - A new Urgent Care location - Physician Offices – Primary care and specialty providers - Lab and Imaging services — including a highly advanced CT, digital x-ray and ultrasound - A Medical Equipment retail store - An onsite retail Pharmacy - Outpatient Occupational and Physical Therapy All of the services and the environment at St. Vincent Northside Crossing work together to provide the community with an exceptional healthcare experience. 14020 Old State Road Evansville, IN 47725 StVincentSWIN.org/North NOW OPEN! PETERSBURG RESIDENT'S DOCUMENTARY ON EAST CHICAGO HOOPS TO BE SCREENED AT INDY FILM FEST Tim Helfen See HELFEN on 3