Harry Valérien

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Harry Valérien (born November 4, 1923 in Munich ; † October 12, 2012 on the way to Berg am Starnberger See ) was a German sports journalist and author who was best known as the co-founder and presenter of the television program Das Aktuell Sportstudio . From 1952 he reported on the Olympic Games for more than four decades. His specialties were winter sports, swimming and golf.

Live and act

Grave of Harry Valérien in the Aufkirchen cemetery (2014)

Valérien had three younger siblings. When he was 14 years old, his mother was killed in a car accident shortly before World War II . His father, a press photographer, died of heart disease a year later. So he and his three siblings grew up with their grandfather. He put him in an apprenticeship with a mechanic. He then worked as a journeyman in a "war-important company". In 1942 he was called up for military service with the mountain troops and in 1945 was taken prisoner by the Americans.

In 1946 he attended the journalistic preparatory courses in Munich, a preliminary version of the German School of Journalism led by Otto Groth . In 1947 Valérien did an internship at the Münchner Merkur and later worked there as an editor. In 1949 he also began working as a reporter for Bavarian Broadcasting . The first high point in his career came in 1952, when the then just 28-year-old was surprisingly chosen as one of the four German radio reporters at the Winter Olympics in Norway. He was preferred to Herbert Zimmermann from NWDR , Ludwig Maibohm from Hessischer Rundfunk, Gerd Krämer and Rainer Günzler from Süddeutscher Rundfunk and Günther Jendrich from Südwestfunk. With the exception of 1956, from then until 1996 he was present at all Olympic Games as a commentator for radio and television.

In later years he also worked as a television reporter for ZDF , Sat.1 and Premiere . He quickly made a name for himself as a specialist in skiing , swimming and golf . In 1958, this even earned him a small supporting role as a sports reporter in the ski film The Black Lightning with the then popular Olympic champion Toni Sailer .

The current sports studio on ZDF, which he co-founded, he moderated a total of 283 times from 1963 to 1988. His favorite colored sweaters, mainly yellow, became his trademark. The question "Which camera are we on?" Was recurring - in Bavarian as "Where simma? Where samma? Do samma! ”- when he moderated the live broadcast. He was valued for charm and fairness. “I don't make reports at the expense of others, and even in interviews, nobody should leave the ring as a winner or loser,” was his motto. “He followed up, with a perfect tone, but relentless in the matter,” wrote Dieter Kürten , formerly a sports studio presenter himself, once about his long-term colleague.

Valérien, who was very popular in those years, presented together with the former Miss World and then presenter of the Bavarian Radio Petra Schürmann the once very highly rated charity event Stars in the Manege from the Circus Krone of Munich, which for around forty years was a highlight of the annual TV calendar depicted.

His three-part documentary about the then national soccer coach Helmut Schön , which was broadcast in 1979 and broadcast as part of the ZDF fixture Der Sport-Spiegel, broadcast between 1963 and 1989, also attracted attention .

When he was to become head of sports at ZDF in 1983, Valérien declined: “I prefer to remain a reporter, that appeals to me more than any administration.” In later years Valérien also liked to report for Sat.1 and Premiere from Golf. Valérien proved that he was not only sporty when he appeared on the ZDF talk show Live alongside Amelie Fried , as a presenter of the ZDF traffic magazine Telemotor or as an interviewer in the Sunday talk series .

Valérien was one of the first to campaign against doping in sport and, in addition to sports greats of all stripes , counted world stars such as Bud Spencer as a former swimmer or Elton John as president of an English football club among his guests. Valérien was not satisfied with the coverage of sporting events. An event from 1973 even went down in sports history when he challenged Werner Lampe , third Olympic champion in the 200 meter freestyle , to a swimming competition. Valérien, then at almost 50 years of age, more than twice as old as the 21-year-old Lampe, started with flippers for the delight of the audience  - and struck a tenth of a second before the specialist.

The numerous awards he has received over the years include the Bambi , which he received in 1972, 1979, 1990 and 2005, the Golden Camera , which he was awarded in 1965, 1976 and 1988, and in 2004 the honorary award of the Bavarian Prime Minister at the Bavarian TV Prize and in 2009 the Herbert Award for life's work. In 2002 he was awarded the Bavarian Sports Prize in the category Outstanding Sports Presentation .

According to his son-in-law, Valérien "fell asleep peacefully and died of heart failure" in the passenger seat of the car in 2012 on the way back from a meeting with former colleagues and ski racers in Oberaudorf to Berg am Starnberger See. "He died roughly at the point where his mother was killed in a car accident," reported Rainer Holbe .

Valérien's grave is in the cemetery in the Aufkirchen district in Berg in Upper Bavaria on Lake Starnberg . On the tombstone is the name of his daughter Laila, who died of breast cancer five years before him .

family

Valérien lived on Lake Starnberg with his wife, the former Norwegian ski racer Randi, who has campaigned internationally for nuclear disarmament and Montessori schools for years . Their daughters Tanja and Laila were born in 1962 and 1964 respectively. Laila died of breast cancer in 2007, Tanja is married to mountaineer Stefan Glowacz . The professional basketball player Malo Valérien is a grandson of Harry Valérien.

Works

Valérien's numerous books, some of which illuminate sporting topics from an unusual angle, have almost all become bestsellers. If there is an * after the year of publication in the list, it could be a later new edition.

  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Olympia '68. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1968.
  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Football '70. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1970.
  • Harry Valérien: Olympia Munich 1972. Munich, Kiel, Sapporo. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1982 *.
  • Harry Valérien: Soccer 74 - World Cup. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1974.
  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Olympia 1976. Montreal, Innsbruck. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1985 *.
  • Harry Valérien: Soccer 78 - Argentina World Cup. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1978.
  • Harry Valérien: Football '80 - European Championship, European Cups, Bundesliga. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1980.
  • Harry Valérien: Olympia '80. Moscow and Lake Placid. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1982.
  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Football '82. XII. World Championship from June 13th to July 11th 1982 in Spain. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1984 *.
  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Football '84. 5th European Championship from June 12th to 27th, 1984 in France. Bundesliga trophies. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1986 *.
  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Olympia '84. Los Angeles, Sarajevo. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1986 *.
  • Harry Valérien's sports reports. Pictures, events, documents. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1985.
  • Soccer '86. World Championship in Mexico. 1986.
  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Football EM '88 Germany. VIII. European Football Championship from June 10th to 25th, 1988. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1988.
  • Christian Zentner and Harry Valérien: Olympia 1988. Seoul, Calgary. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1988.
  • Harry Valérien: Golf, the fascination of a world sport. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1989.
  • Harry Valérien and Christian Zentner: Football World Cup '90 Italy. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1990 ( No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list in 1990 ).
  • Harry Valérien: Olympia '92. The Albertville Winter Games. Südwest Verlag, Munich 1992.
  • Harry Valérien: Lillehammer '94. The Olympic book. Sportverlag, Berlin 1994.
  • USA '94. Sportverlag, Berlin 1994.
  • Atlanta. The 1996 Olympic Book. Sportverlag, Berlin 1996.

Awards

TV portrait

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Groth: The young talent problem. In: Dietrich Oppenberg (ed.): Handbuch Deutsche Presse 1947. Reprint of the newspaper section. Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-430-17288-8 , pp. 96-101.
  2. ↑ Harry Valérien died of heart failure. In: Spiegel Online of October 13, 2012, accessed on October 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ On the death of Harry Valérien: "Sappradi, lad!". In: evening newspaper . October 14, 2012, accessed October 16, 2012.
  4. ↑ Rainer Holbe: Posterity does not weave wreaths for mimes. Deceased audience favorites and their last place on earth, in: FAZ No. 273, 23 November 2018, p. 8.
  5. ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Harry Valérien
  6. ↑ Rainer Holbe: Posterity does not weave wreaths for mimes. Deceased audience favorites and their last place on earth, in: FAZ No. 273, 23 November 2018, p. 8.
  7. ↑ Willy Bogner receives Golden Sports Pyramid. (No longer available online.) In: zeit.de. May 31, 2013, archived from the original on April 13, 2014 ; accessed on April 22, 2019 (source: sid).
personal data
SURNAME Valérien, Harry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sports journalist and television presenter
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 2012
Place of death Berg (Starnberger See)