Helen Margaret Eckert

Born April 18, 1925, Helen Margaret Eckert, a Canadian native, graduated from Eastwood High School of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1943. While in high school, she was awarded the High School Academic Award, indicating her outstanding potential for scholarly work.

After her graduation from high school, Eckert enrolled at the University of Alberta in 1947 and studied history and physical education. While there she won the Bakewell Trophy for the Outstanding Woman Athlete of 1948 and the Lord Strathcona Trust Medal for Physical Training in 1949. After completing her bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Alberta in 1951 and earning the First-Class Standing Prize (Alberta), she taught physical education, English, and health at Parkdale Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

In 1953, she earned her master of education in history and education at the University of Alberta and won the National Fitness Scholarship (Canada). That fall, Eckert was accepted and enrolled in the doctoral program for physical education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. While studying for her doctorate, she was a teacher of physical education and a volleyball coach for Scott Collegiate in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, from 1954-1955, and then became an assistant professor of physical education at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

With her doctorate in hand, in 1966 Eckert was recruited to join the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor within the Department of Physical Education. Over the next two decades, she earned tenure, was promoted to professor, and served both the university and the discipline well. She was a member of numerous professional societies, often serving in leadership roles, and in 1976, she became a Fellow in The American Academy of Physical Education.

Eckert was an excellent scholar. Her work on motor development, especially in children, was groundbreaking, and her book, “Motor Development,” originally published in 1967 and co-authored with Anna S. Espenschade, another Berkeley professor emerita in physical education, was long considered the classic text on the subject. In addition to dozens of research articles, her other major written work was the textbook “Practical Measurement of Physical Performance” published in 1974.

Being a physical educator was of immense pride to Eckert. Physical activity was extremely important to her, and she was active all her life. She lived to be 96 years old.

Steve Lehman
Steven Ross Murray