Hellring died in 1971, in an auto accident at Princeton University.[11][12]
He was elected posthumously into the Ultimate Hall of Fame.[13]
After his death, funds were raised to fulfill his dream of producing the high school newspaper he edited as an in-house daily, through purchase of a large Heidelberg printing press. This press was sold sometime in the late 1990s as traditional printing arts were replaced by computer-based technologies in the school's curricula.
^Adam Zagoria. "The History of Ultimate". The Ultimate Handbook. Archived from the original on 2008-04-29. Retrieved 2008-04-06. According to Hellring's sister, Heidi, Hellring got Wham-O to send the team a box of Frisbees because the discs kept cracking in the 15-25 degree Fahrenheit air; one green 120-gram "moonlighter" was lost in the brook by the lot, The Colombian reported. Silver and Hellring also took the International Frisbee Association's test, passing it as masters. The IFA was then the sport's governing body...Hellring continued to write tongue-in-cheek Frisbee stories and place ads for the team in the paper. In one, the paper reported that "the rise of Frisbee in Columbia high school is merely indicative of a world-wide trend, according to major national periodicals." The story went on to cite a Time magazine article which recommended that the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. take their cue and henceforth "settle all disputes between the two with Frisbees instead of missiles."
^Academy (July 10, 2009). "The Origins and Development of Ultimate Frisbee". U. S. Sports. Finally, in the fall of 1968, the members of the student newspaper challenged the students on Council to a formal game. In a match up that featured two large, co-ed teams, The Columbian won the first game in front of the high school, 11-7. This historic first match was played on the now famous Columbia parking lot. During the summer of 1970, Silver, Hellring and Hines re-wrote and refined the rules which were subsequently printed and copies were sent all over the world
^"The "Founders"". Ultimate Players Association. 2005-12-28. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2008-04-06. In the summer of 1968, Joel Silver was introduced to a "frisbee football" type game while participating in an educational enrichment program at the Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. After returning to Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, that fall, he got a motion passed at the student council to introduce Frisbee into the curriculum. Together with his friends Bernard "Buzzy" Hellring and Jonathan "Jonny" Hines, they got other students to play their new game and refined the rules, producing a written "first edition" of the rules for the sport Joel dubbed "Ultimate Frisbee" and naming their group the "Columbia High School Varsity Frisbee Squad" in early 1970. The three classmates laid the foundation required to permit the transformation of a recreational activity into a sport over the following years. Ultimate today is still played largely according to the rules developed by Joel, Buzzy, and Jonny.
