The end of the school year at Gold-Burg also means the school says goodbye to boy’s athletic director Joe Helms.
Helms is retiring after 27 years of coaching, the last two leading the Bear football program to heights they had never reached before.
Helms had began his teaching and coaching career in Dell City where he started as an assistant coach, but was quickly promoted to head coach when the coach there left. He learned many lessons traveling across Far West Texas over the next couple years.
Coach Helms then moved to New Home where he led the Leopards to the only 10-win season in school history.
Soon he took his talents to Grady where he was successful in football at a school that was most well-known for their basketball program.
At Grady, he led the Wildcats to the only 10-win season in school history along with the only playoff win past the first round.
Bryson was his next stop where he again stamped his name on a record book winning the first six-man playoff game in the school’s history, while becoming the only coach to win an area playoff game while there.
After several years at Bryson, West Texas called Coach Helms’ name again, as he and his family moved to Grandfalls-Royalty.
During the course of his time there, Helms won multiple district championships and brought the school’s first state championship in 2013 while also serving as superintendent of schools.
With his kids off to college and the start of his several years battling colon cancer, Helms was set to retire in 2020 when he got the itch to only coach he inquired about the Gold-Burg job thanks to his previous relationship with newly appointed principal Chad Tallon.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.