Heinz Weifenbach

Heinz Weifenbach (born July 11, 1939 in Hemer , North Rhine-Westphalia ; † February 21, 2015 ) was a German ice hockey official who was responsible for the most successful period in sport at the ECD Iserlohn . He achieved nationwide fame in the 1980s when he agreed an advertising contract for the ECD with the Libyan revolutionary leader Muammar al-Gaddafi .

Career

The trained bricklayer and building contractor began his career as a chairman of the junior department at EC Deilinghofen , previously he was a fan of the ECD for many years. At the beginning of 1981, the club was now called ECD Iserlohn, he replaced Wilhelm Gosselke as the club's chairman. From the late 1970s, the new boss was left with a large amount of debt.

Nevertheless, the most dazzling time of Iserlohn ice hockey started with Weifenbach. He signed stars like the Finn Martti Jarkko or NHL star Jaroslav Pouzar , as well as 1983/84 coach Gerhard Kießling and provided some top-class sponsors like Mario Ohoven . Under his leadership, the ECD Iserlohn established itself in the ice hockey Bundesliga and reached the semi-finals of the German championship for the first time in the club's history in the 1985/86 season .

Before the 1986/87 season , the dark side of his work became clear for the first time: The Iserlohn tax office had the business premises of the ECD Iserlohn and the players' apartments searched due to tax debts of DM 5.8 million. In order to save the club after all, Weifenbach, who also invested a large part of his private assets in the club, traveled to Libya's head of state Gaddafi. He tried to reduce debt with an advertising contract worth 1.5 million DM for Gaddafi's “ Green Book ”. This caused great excitement at home. Well-known politicians condemned Weifenbach's action. During the 1987/88 season , the ECD Iserlohn had to file for bankruptcy.

On October 9, 1991, Weifenbach resigned as President of the ECD Sauerland because, according to press reports, sponsors were on hold who only wanted to support the association when Weifenbach has resigned.

Heinz Weifenbach, who was shown with a cigar in almost every photo , was sentenced to four years ' imprisonment for tax evasion on June 30, 1993 .

Most recently he lived with his wife in the Rhineland. Born in Hemeraner, he had completely withdrawn from the ice hockey scene and was once again mainly devoting himself to construction projects.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Willy Schweer: An extraordinary person who shaped an Iserlohn ice hockey era . In: IKZ . March 1, 2015. Accessed March 1, 2015.