Saline High School's Vince Helmuth is a champion who cares

Vince Helmuth is what you would call a big man on campus. A junior at Saline High School in Saline, Michigan, Vince weighs 250 pounds and can bench press 405 pounds. He excels in football, basketball and track and has been offered a full-ride scholarship to the University of Michigan. Vince might have every reason to be cocky and associate only with the most exclusive school cliques, but he is anything but. And that’s because the biggest part of this big man on campus is his heart.

hile many high school kids might indulge in a lot of selfserving activities, Vince spends much of his free time reading to elementary-age children and coaching special-needs kids. “Vince has a temperament and personality to work well with everybody, but especially with special-needs children,” says his father, Matt. “At the football games and basketball games, he’ll always have special-needs kids and kids he has read to who will be giving him high fives. In fact, the day he verbally committed to Michigan he had to leave early so he could baby-sit a special-needs kid.” “I love being involved with the Special Olympics,” says Vince.

“Special Olympians are the happiest group of kids you will ever get to coach. They don’t complain; they work hard and are always happy to see me.” As for why he reads to little kids, Vince says it was always an exciting event when someone from the outside would come to read to his classes when he was in grade school, and he wanted to share that experience with others. Vince’s full-of-life spirit is evident in all his athletic accomplishments. As a two-way starter playing linebacker and fullback, he lettered in varsity and was an all-conference winner in his sophomore and junior years. He was on the varsity basketball team for the past two years, making all-conference this year.

In track, he was a force right from the WAn all-conference winner for the past two years, Vince has verbally committed to attend the University of Michigan. beginning, becoming a regional champion in the shot and discus as a freshman. He was the top sophomore in the country in the discus, as well as state champion and sophomore state record holder with a best of 185 feet 4 inches; he also threw the shot 55 feet 2 inches that year, placing him fourth in the state. This spring he is aiming for 200 feet in the discus. Let’s talk about numbers. Vince is 6 feet 1? inches and weighs 248 pounds.

As a freshman weighing 270 pounds, Vince could bench press 275, squat 315, clean 160, vertical jump 16 inches and run a 5.6 forty. Now he benches 405, squats 477.5, power cleans 290, vertical jumps 27 inches and runs a 4.9 forty. And remember, this is a junior we’re talking about – Vince still has another year of lifting and speed training to go! “Vincent has a tremendous work ethic,” says head football coach Mike Glennie, also Saline’s strength coach. “I have always told peowww.bigger fasterstronger.com “Special Olympians are the happiest group of kids you will ever get to coach,” says Vince, who spends much of his spare time working with special needs children.

A multi-sport athlete who also excels in track and basketball, Vince works hard in the weightroom. ple his motor goes 100 mph, all the time. He is continually working to improve himself and those around him. He understands the value of a team, giving back to his community, and works to raise people up around him. He is a leader and a wonderful role model. Everyone in our school of over 1,800 knows Vincent, and he is a friend to everyone. Vincent is an 11!” At the University of Michigan, Vince plans to participate in both football and track but says his focus will be on football because that’s what his scholarship is in.

In school he has a 3.0 cumulative GPA and his favorite subjects are government, history and drama. Vince says his career goal is to be a college football coach: “It’s been my dream since I was in middle school.”

All in the Helmuth Family The Helmuths live in Saline, Michigan, a white-collar community of “We always encouraged our children to about 10,000 just outside Ann Arbor. play sports, but if they’d felt they wantMatt Helmuth owns a chemical compaed to grow up and be piano players we ny, and his wife, Annette, owns and would have encouraged them to be teaches at a Montessori school. Vince’s piano players. They just gravitated older brother, Chris, graduated from towards sports.” Michigan State and has been playing for Vince loves the New York Jets Saline High School, since 2002. His older especially its 2,500sister, Anna, is a junsquare-foot weightior at Central Florida room.

“I haven’t on a track scholarseen anything betship. Vince’s younger ter than the weightbrother, Gabriel, is room we have,” in ninth grade and says Vince. “That has followed the helps a lot, knowfamily tradition of ing that the school excelling in athletics. Mike Glennie is the Saline’s head foot- is really behind our Vince started athletes. And on playing sports at the ball and strength coach, and has played a key role in Vince’s success. Friday nights, we age of four, particiget huge crowds – pating in T-ball and even if it’s an away game.” During his soccer, but sports were not pushed upon spare time – what little he has after his the Helmut children.

His father says, MAY/JUNE 2006 Vince can bench press 405 pounds, but works equally as hard on the power clean and parallel squat. commitments – Vince likes to fish. “I can really just get away from everything, sitting on a bank or a boat, and kick back with my buddies or my younger brother.” Vince cites his parents as role models, “for helping me keep my head on straight,” and says he has always admired his older brother. “Chris was the first guy I ever knew to play college football, and it was a big deal when he signed to play at Michigan State.” He says that his brother tells him that it’s a misconception to think that NFL players don’t work hard in the off-season.

“Every year there are hundreds of new players trying to take your position, so www.bigger fasterstronger.com you have to work real hard in the offseason. His advice to me is to keep working hard, and don’t listen to what others have to say negatively because some people are going to talk bad about you regardless of how good you are at whatever you do.”

In looking for the best person to sum up the primary reason Vince Helmuth was selected as the 2006 BFS Male High School Athlete of the Year, we turned to his mother. Says Annette, “I think Vince has always been the type of child other parents would seek out to have as a friend for their children. I even have people call me and say, ‘Vince is such a wonderful child.’ You know, you never really know how you’re doing as a parent until someone else tells you how they are behaving away from you. So I guess we have been doing something right here with Vince.” We at BFS think so too. Congratulations, Vince!

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From BFS Magazine — May/June 2006. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).