Athlete

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Jim Helmer

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Jim Helmer prepares to make a cut in Piedmont’s epic 1932 victory over Berkeley to break the “Berkeley Jinx”.

Jim Helmer prepares to make a cut in Piedmont’s epic 1932 victory over Berkeley to break the “Berkeley Jinx”.

JAMES F. Helmer
PHS Class of 1934

Football and track. Track Optimo in 1934. Brick Johnson fondly remembered Jim Helmer as one of the best all-around athletes he had ever coached. He was a sprinter on the track team and a half-back on the football team.

Like the photo above? Read about the Piedmont vs Berkeley game of 1932 in the CAnewspaper archive.

Read more about Jim’s life on Legacy.com.


According to his son Jim Jr.:

”He ran a 10.00 flat time in the 100 yd. dash his Sr. year at Piedmont which led to a 4th place at the State meet in Los Angeles and a successful track career at Cal where his relay team (including Archie Williams, Olympic Champion) went on to break the 440 yd. relay record at Cal which stood for many years.”

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Chris Roberts

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Chris Roberts
PHS Class of 1985

Chris Roberts played on three straight ACAL title basketball teams at Piedmont from 1982-1985, was the leagues MVP (Oakland Tribune) and All-ACAL during the 1983-1984 and 1984-1985 seasons. In 1985 he averaged over 27 points a game, often playing only three quarters of the game, and was named to the SF Chronicle’s All-Northern California team. He set a single-game scoring record (44 points) against Alameda and made 45 consecutive free throws that season. His 37 points against Hayward still stands among the greatest NCS playoff accomplishments in PHS’s big upset of the No.1 rated Hayward Farmers. He played basketball at Chico State University and graduated from the University of Colorado. Coach Kitchens called him “the best player I have ever coached.”

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Sandy Schwab

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Sandy Schwab
PHS Class of 1982

Sandy excelled in both Football and Track in his athletic career at Piedmont. As a track athlete he excelled in the 300 meter hurdles. As a Senior Captain of the Football team, Sandy led Piedmont to the League Championships and into the Playoffs. As a three year starter at quarterback, Sandy set all of Piedmont's passing records. Passing for over 2,500 yards as a Senior, Sandy was named the Leagues most Valuable Offensive Player, to the All Eastbay Team, and to the All Star Team for Alameda County.

College Career:

Schwab was heavily recruited by Northwestern and UCLA and ultimately chose Dennis Green’s Wildcats. As a starting Freshman, he made national headlines leading Northwestern to a 31 to 6 victory over Northern Illinois, which ended Northwestern's painful 34 game losing streak. In celebration, the jubilant fans tore down the goalposts and walked them up the stadium bleachers where they tossed them over the edge to the street below. The fans then marched the goal posts to the presidents house before leaving them in Lake Michigan.

In one game alone, Schwab set several Big Ten and NCAA records for passing, and he did it against league-leading and nationally ranked Michigan, known for its strong defense. He completed 45-of-71 passes for 436 yards. The attempts and completions were NCAA records and his 76 offensive plays tied the NCAA mark. His 436 yards and 23 first downs passing were team records. At the time of his graduation he had set all of the passing records at Northwestern including 5,612 yards passing for his career.

“In my now 50 years of coaching Sandy is the most gifted athlete I have had the pleasure to coach”
— Mike Roof - PHS Varsity Football Coach
 
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Bob Wolfe

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Bob Wolfe
PHS Class of 1964

Bob started on the PHS varsity basketball team his sophomore, junior and senior years. At the time of graduation, Bob held all the Piedmont High basketball scoring records, including career, season and single game. He also held the record for offensive rebounds.

During his senior year, Bob led Northern California in scoring, 23 points per game. He made the All-Northern California High School AII-Star Team, as well as the AII-Conference Team and the AII-CountyTeam.

In addition to Bob's prowess on the basketball court, he was a 3-year letter winner in cross country and track.

Bob went on to attend the University of California Berkeley. He was a 3-year starter on the Cat Basketball Team (freshmen were not eligible for varsity at that time). He was drafted by the (then) San Francisco Warriors. He also lettered for two years in golf at Cal.

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LaVerne Corbin 

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LaVerne Corbin 

PHS Class of 1925

The state player of the year for basketball as a senior at Piedmont, Corbin went on to become Cal's first star in the sport. He played on the Golden Bears' 1927 and '29 Pacific Coast Conference championship teams, led the league in scoring as a junior and senior, and became Cal's first basketball AII-America player. The Bears were 39-13 his three seasons, including 13-0 in 1927.

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Jack Dana

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Jack Dana
PHS Class of 1939

Dana was a standout basketball and football player at Piedmont High, who went on to play collegiately for Stanford University. He was a reserve on Stanford's 1942 national championship team, but in the championship game, starting forward Jim Pollard had the flu and was unable to play. Dana started in Pollard's place, played all 40 minutes, and scored 14 points, one point behind high scorer Howie Dallmar.

 
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Robert Kurkjian

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Robert Kurkjian
PHS Class of 1941

As a member of both the football & basketball teams while at Piedmont High School, Robert Kurkjian won the Optimo (MVP) for both sports.  He was also President of his junior class.  As a member of the 1941  ACAL football championship team that was ranked #1 in the country, he was named to the All-League and All-County teams, as well as the All-County basketball team.  The Piedmont High School football program annually awards the Kurkjian Award, which is named in honor of Robert.  He was killed in 1945 while serving our country in Okinawa Japan.  Robert received both the Bronze Star and Silver Star for gallantry in action.


More photos:

Piedmont Football’s Kurkjian Award (click photos to expand).

The Kurkjian family provided this photo of Robert while stationed in Hawaii in 1944.

1944 Kurkjian Hawaii.jpg
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Leo McCaffrey

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Leo McCaffrey
PHS Class of 1939


Leo was a student body president and star basketball player for the Highlanders. He was the Optimo Award winner for Piedmont’s 1937 ACAL Basketball Championship team. Leo later played on the 1942 Stanford team that won the NCAA Championship. 

In 1942 Leo enlisted in the Marine Corps and was with the Marines in the pacific from 1944 to 1946 and took part in several campaigns, including Saipan and Okinawa, and then spent tour months in Japan.


Links:

Chicago Tribune - Stanford’s magical title run of 1942
Leo’s Obituary - San Francisco Chronicle 2005

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Jim Peters

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Jim Peters
PHS Class of 1966

Jim Peters was a successful member of the Piedmont High School football and track teams.  He was named to the All-League, All-East Bay and All-Northern California teams as a linebacker in 1965.  That particular team was undefeated in the FAL.  On the track team, he participated in the shot put and discus events where he currently holds the Piedmont High School record for discus at 189 feet.  He was ranked number one in the state of California for his discus throwing success during his senior year.  He also won the State Championship meet that year.  During his college career, he participated in the track & field team at UCLA.

 

Jim Peters passed away on December 20, 2022. Read his obituary here.

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Nancy Romweber

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Nancy Romweber
Class of 1989

Unquestionably one of the finest athletes, male or female, in the history of Piedmont High School. She competed in volleyball, soccer, softball, swimming and track. Varsity soccer and softball as a Freshman; MVP and All-League swimmer as a Sophomore; All-League volleyball and softball as a junior; All-League volleyball as senior. Varsity Track as a senior, she set records in the triple jump; 400 meters; 100 hurdles; went to State meet in 300 hurdles and long jump; still holds school records for long jump, 200 meter hurdles, 300 hurdles.