Sammy Decker

Name: Sammy Decker
Birth Name: Samuel Joseph Helmstead
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: 1960-01-07 (Age:67)
Pro Boxer: Record

According to his death certificate in digital form in the Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1963 database on Ancestry.com., Samuel Joseph Helmstead was born on September 8, 1892, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died after a bout with pulmonary tuberculosis in the advanced stage on January 7, 1960, in Henry R. Landis Hospital in Philadelphia. He had the disease for three years. The certificate contains other personal information about Helmstead with the informant being Dorothy Moran.

Helmstead was a widower at the time of his death and worked as a railroad brakeman. His wife was Mary Conley, while his parents were Samuel Helmstead and Margaret Mullen. He was buried on January 12,1960 in Old Cathedral Cemetery, in Philadelphia.

Samuel Joseph Helmstead is in draft registration records of both World Wars and in the U.S. census records of 1910 and 1920. According to the 1910 U.S. Census, Helmstead had an older brother, George Helmstead, who was listed as being a boxing instructor. There was a Philadelphia boxer with the ring name of "George Decker," who had 134 known bouts, according to his record on BoxRec. Decker's real name was listed as "George Helmstead" on the record. Also according to the 1910 U.S. Census, Samuel worked as a helper in the "express wagon" industry at the age of 17. His mother was a widow at the time.

Brothers George Decker and Harry Decker were fellow professional boxers.