WILLIAM R. “BILL” FADDIS
Service arrangements for Bill are still pending; a full obituary will be published when available.
A prep original has passed away. Bill Faddis, the inaugural winner of The Denver Post's Gold Helmet Award in 1951, died Friday in Sidney, Neb. He was 80. "We think it was a heart attack," said James Faddis, one of Bill's younger brothers. Faddis starred in football, basketball and baseball for Regis High School, when it was in north Denver. It's now known as Regis Jesuit and has moved to southeast Aurora. Faddis played for Coach Lou Kellogg, whose name graces the Raiders' football stadium. Halfway through his senior year, Faddis was the first football player selected for a new Denver Post award, which at the time also involved the Thom McAn shoe company as a sponsor. The winner of the Gold Helmet Award must show outstanding contributions in the areas of athletics and community involvement. "Our family liked that it did that," James Faddis said. Bill Faddis, the second of four brothers, was presented with a bronze shoe, because the actual gold helmet as a trophy was not awarded until 1962. Faddis was selected as a high school All-American in football and baseball in the parochial system, when private schools were in separate leagues from public schools. After one of the Faddis brothers got his two front teeth knocked out in football, it soured Bill on the sport, his brother said. Bill even had an offer from Notre Dame to play football but instead chose to attend Southern California to play baseball. After college, he joined the U.S. Navy. He decided to go work in business and insurance and later became a golf professional. "He was a natural athlete," James Faddis said. "And he was sort of a loner, a hermit, but he was enjoying his life." Bill Faddis was married and later divorced and had two sons. He also lived in Craig and Hutchison, Kan., and was fond of hunting and fishing. Little did the son of a coal miner from Utah realize that he would be the first in what now is a long line of outstanding, well-rounded young men. Next month, The Denver Post will announce its 64th Gold Helmet Award winner. "The neatness of the award was that it wasn't just for athletics," James Faddis said. "A lot of those guys who won it were phenomenal people.