AHSAA names Helms ‘Official of the year’

Ken Helms loves baseball.

Helms’ love of the game and proven track record as an umpire led to him being selected as the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Official of the Year.

Helms was nominated by Southeast Baseball District Director Dan Capps.

“I’m honored,” Helms said. “I’ve been doing it 18 years. I’ve tried hard, and I don’t know if I deserve it or not, but I was honored to be selected.”

While the love of baseball got him into umpiring games, Helms said he had a lot of help along the way.

“Eighteen years ago, I saw an ad in the paper and got involved in it,” he said. “Now, I’ve got some great officials I call with — Shane Cook and Michael Cassady — that bunch. Jed Blackwell; all of those guys have taught me a pile and I’ve called a lot of games with them. They’ve helped me a lot.

“They’ve really made me a better umpire,” he said.

Helms said his friends have helped him with the fundamentals of calling games, adding that others showed him what to do.

“The mechanics,” he said. “Some of the mechanics have changed over the years, and we stay in the rule books trying to get better. I call with Mike and Shane now; not as much with Mike as I used to because he coaches.

“When you watch good officials, you pick up good habits,” he said. “You don’t want to try to emulate them, but you want to be as good as they are. I don’t know if I deserve this, but I try to work hard and give everybody a good game, and try to improve every year.”

Helms mainly officiates high school baseball games, but also spends time calling Babe Ruth, Dixie and Cal Ripken games.

The hardest or most intense game that Helms said he’s ever had to call was the Class 5A state semifinals between Charles Henderson and St. Paul’s Episcopal School a few years ago.

“The biggest game I called was a few years ago, me and coach Cassady and Jed Blackwell got to call the semifinals in 5A,” he said. “It was Charles Henderson versus St. Paul’s. There was a huge crowd. That was an intense game.

“We went to a three-game series, and I had the plate at game three,” he said. “It ended up being an intense ball game, but the series was intense the whole time. That was what we call big time baseball. I enjoyed that.”

What’s kept Helms calling games for so long is what gave him the desire to become an umpire.

“It’s fun to me,” he said. “I used to play softball, but I’m too old for that. I’ve always loved baseball. I went to Pleasant Home and we had a team my senior year, and we didn’t get to play a whole lot.

“I’ve always loved baseball, and I love umpiring,” he said. “It’s my hobby when baseball season is in from February to July. If I’m off, I’m pretty much calling a baseball game somewhere.”

Helms and his wife, Wanda, will be celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary on Monday.

He said he couldn’t be an umpire without her.

“She’s put up with a lot,” Helms said. “With me being gone calling ball, she’s always been my biggest supporter. Nobody gets on me harder than I get on myself, like I said, she’s been my sounding board when I thought I had a problem.”

When not wearing an umpire’s uniform, Helms is working at Shaw Industries.