Horst Kunzmann (soccer player, April 1935)

Horst Kunzmann (born April 20, 1935 ; † November 5, 2016 ) was a former German football player and coach who played 152 league games with seven from 1954 to 1963 in the top football leagues south and south-west for the clubs VfR Mannheim and TuRa Ludwigshafen Goals and from 1963 to 1968 in the second-rate regional leagues South and Southwest completed another 113 league games (1 goal) for the clubs Amicitia Viernheim and VfR Frankenthal . After his playing career, Kunzmann worked as a coach at SV Alsenborn and Südwest Ludwigshafen in the Regionalliga Südwest.

career

player

The young player from VfR Mannheim made his debut in the 1953/54 round with the lawn players in the Oberliga Süd. On March 14, 1954, a 1-1 home draw against Kickers Offenbach, he was used as the right wing runner in the World Cup system at the time for the first time in the VfR league team in the Oberliga Süd. He played alongside goalkeeper Hermann Jöckel , center runner Kurt Keuerleber and the attackers Rudolf de la Vigne , Theodor Laumann and Ernst-Otto Meyer . Kunzmann did not find his way into the main team of the blue-white-reds in the next four rounds and after a total of 18 league appearances (1 goal) moved to TuRa Ludwigshafen in the Oberliga Südwest at the end of the first round in 1958/59. He made his debut at the gymnastics and lawn sports club on December 14, 1958, with a 1-1 draw at FV Speyer in the league eleven. On March 22, 1959, he also belonged to the team from the stadium on Bayreuther Strasse, which won 1-0 with a goal from Friedel Trapp against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. At the end of the round he had completed 20 league games (1 goal) for his new club and was one of the narrow circle of regulars. In the season 1961/62 he reached with teammates like Wolfgang Wittemaier (18 goals) and Jürgen Assmus with a 6th place the best placement in the Oberliga Südwest. On the final day of the round, on April 25, 1962, TuRa prevailed on the Betzenberg against 1. FC Kaiserslautern with a 2-1 away win. After the end of the first-class league era in 1962/63, Kunzmann, who was mostly used as an outside runner, had played 134 league games with six goals for TuRa Ludwigshafen. At the age of 28 he signed a new contract with Amicitia Viernheim in the second-rate Regionalliga Süd for the 1963/64 season.

The Green-Whites from the Electoral Palatinate were included as 7th in the 2nd South League 1962/63 in the new second division of the regional football league for the 1963/64 season. Under trainer Reinhold Fanz sen. the team started the 1963/64 season with an away game on August 4, 1963 at 1. FC Pforzheim. Kunzmann acted in a 2: 2 as the right outside runner on the side of Winfried Corell and Fritz Somogyi . On the eleventh game day, the team from the Waldstadion achieved a remarkable home win with a 3-1 win against eventual champions Hessen Kassel. Again, the guys from Viernheim competed in the runner row with Kunzmann, Corell and Somogyi. At the end of the round, the club from the Bergstrasse district in southern Hesse finished 20th in the table and was relegated to the amateur league. Kunzmann had completed 25 league games and signed a new contract with VfR Frankenthal in the Regionalliga Südwest for the 1964/65 season.

In the northern Vorderpfalz, with the blue-blacks from the Ostparkstadion, he played his first regional league game in the southwest on August 30, 1964, in a 1: 2 away defeat at FSV Mainz 05. Together with Karl-Heinz Neu and Rudolf Tauber he formed the VfR runner row. At the end of the round, Kunzmann had played 31 league games and scored one goal and Frankenthal had reached 12th place. Under coach Hans Pilz he achieved his best placement with Frankenthal in 1965/66 with the 7th place. With a good second half of the season, in which the team from the “Stadion am Kanal” had achieved 19:11 points, VfR moved into the front midfield. Goalkeeper Manfred Rößler, defender Willi Wesselowsky, the runner row with Kunzmann, Neu and Tauber, as well as the attackers Albert Dapprich (17 goals), Friedel Trapp (22 goals), Kurt Mellinger and Günther Schwanczar were the pillars of this good team.

In the 1967/68 season, with the use on November 12, 1967 in a 3-1 away win against Ludwigshafener SC, Horst Kunzmann's career in the Regionalliga ended. From 1964 to 1968 he had played 88 regional league games (1 goal) at VfR Frankenthal and at the age of 32 he moved from the field to the coaching bench.

Trainer

After the end of his playing career, he worked as a coach. In the 1969/70 season Kunzmann led Spvgg Ketsch to the championship in the 2nd amateur league Rhein-Neckar. In the last three years of the old, second-class Regionalliga Südwest, he was at SV Alsenborn (1971 to 1973) and SV Südwest Ludwigshafen (1973/74). In later years he worked in the amateur field, including at Viktoria 08 Neckarhausen.

From 1976 to 1999, Kunzmann was the deputy headmaster of the Mannheim Feudenheim Grammar School.

Others

The player Horst Kunzmann, listed on page 219 of the player lexicon from 1890 to 1963 by Lorenz Knieriem and Hardy Grüne, mixes two players with the same name: One was the one born in 1935 from Mannheim and also the 20-time amateur national player of the same name (* 1937) from 1. FC Birkenfeld near Pforzheim.

literature

• Werner Skrentny (Ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. The history of the Oberliga Süd 1945–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 .
• Hardy Grüne, Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 . P. 219.
• German Sports Club for Football Statistics (DSFS): Südwest-Chronik, Football in Southwest Germany 1963/64 to 1968/69. KGT new media. Berlin 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www2-mannheimer-morgen.morgenweb.de/verbindungen/trauerportal/beispiel/4308538-020
2. ↑ Werner Skrentny (ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. P. 207
3. ↑ Werner Skrentny (Ed.): Teufelsangst vorm Erbsenberg. The history of the Oberliga Südwest 1946 to 1963. Klartext Verlag. Essen 1996. ISBN 3-88474-394-5 . P. 190