Heinz Raack (table tennis player)

Heinz Raack (born November 30, 1916 in Berlin-Friedenau ; † November 1, 2003 in Spain) was three times German table tennis champion .

The time before table tennis

Raack started playing football from the age of 12. With the club SC Wilmersdorf he was several times Berlin champion of youth and juniors. On the side he started to play table tennis. He joined the TTC Friedenau association .

Active career

In 1935 he became German team champion with the TTC Friedenau. In the same year he learned to play the backhand from the Indian Kirloskar .

Raack played nine international matches between 1950 and 1956. He also took part in the 1952 World Cup. He was involved in the first international match for a German team after World War II . On January 24, 1950, he competed against Sweden in Gelsenkirchen together with Hellmuth Hoffmann and Dieter Mauritz . In November 1950, Raack took part in the first competition between the Federal Republic and the GDR in Leipzig .

Raack was an attacking player. In 1941, 1948 and 1950 he won the German championship in singles; he was the first Berliner to win a German championship. He was also several times North German and Berlin master. He played for the TTC Friedenau club until 1939, then for TSV Wittenau. In 1947 he founded the BTTC Grün-Weiß Berlin association, which consisted of a tennis and table tennis department. In 1950 he was first in the German rankings. And still at the age of 43, he finished sixth in the 1959 national ranking tournament.

Honorary positions

After the end of his active career, he took on several honorary positions. From 1958 to 1974 he was Vice President of the Berlin Table Tennis Association. In 1992 he became an honorary member here. He also worked in the DTTB as an assessor in the sports court . Here, too, he received honorary membership.

Raack received numerous honors, such as the Golden Badge of Honor from the Berlin Table Tennis Association, the Golden Badge of Honor from the Senate of Berlin, the Silver Badge of Honor from the Berlin Tennis Association and the Silver Badge of Honor from the City of Neumünster.

In 1987 he was honored with the golden badge of honor of the DTTB for his services. In 1997 he received the Dieter Mauritz Memorial Prize.

tennis

Raack was also a good tennis player. In 1947 he came third in the Berlin championship. In the 1950s he played with BTTC Grün-Weiß Berlin in the 1st class of the association.

Private

Raack worked as a city inspector in Berlin-Friedenau . He was married to his wife Hilde; both had a son (Hans) and a daughter (Helga). He spent his old age with his daughter in Spain .

successes

• Participation in table tennis world championships with the German team
  • 1952 in Bombay - 9th place with all-German team

• National German championships
  • 1935 Stettin: Individual 3rd place
  • 1940 Baden / Vienna: Double 3rd place (with Heinz Benthien )
  • 1941 Dresden: Singles 1st place
  • 1943 Breslau: Double 3rd place (with Kurt Braun )
  • 1944 Breslau: single 3rd place, double 1st place (with Hausner)
  • 1948 Göttingen: single 1st place, double 1st place (with Helmut Germany )
  • 1950 Rheydt: singles 1st place, doubles 1st place (with Günter Felske )
  • 1956 Dortmund: Individual 3rd place, Mixed 3rd place (with Uschi Fiedler )

• German team championships
  • 1935 Erfurt: Winner with TTC Berlin-Friedenau

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
GER	World Championship	1952	Bombay	IND	last 32	last 32	no participants	9

literature

• DTS magazine . 1966/23, page 7.
• HC: Salute for the warrior Raack. In: DTS magazine . 1976/22, page 23.