Jean Loering

Hans "Jean" Löring (born August 16, 1934 in Cologne ; † March 6, 2005 there ) was a German entrepreneur and football player and official. He became known as a patron and long-time president of SC Fortuna Köln, which rose to the Bundesliga under his leadership. In the years before the introduction of the Bundesliga, he himself played in the major league for Prussia Dellbrück , SC Viktoria 04 Cologne and Alemannia Aachen . After that he was temporarily boxing manager. As an entrepreneur, he had success in electrical and pipeline construction, among other things.

Career

Hans Löring, who called himself Jean Löring and was known by this name, was also called De Schäng by many Cologne residents . After secondary school he learned to be an electrician and made it up to a master electrician. After his training, he was a professional footballer , from July 1955 to June 1957 as a defender at Preußen Dellbrück , from July 1957 to June 1961 at the successor club SC Viktoria 04 Cologne and from July 1961 to June 1962 at Alemannia Aachen . He then ended his active football career because of a hip joint damage. He now established a corporate empire that later consisted of nine companies, the core of which was Hans Löring ELRO Elektro- und Rohrleitungsbau GmbH (1973: 300 employees). In 1966 he became president of SC Fortuna Köln , he was in office until 2001. During his presidency, Fortuna made it to the next higher league every two years from the district league. In addition, Löring was the manager of the Cologne boxing professional Jupp Elze who died as a German champion in 1968 after a fight for the European championship.

Economic and sporting advancement

On May 13, 1973 he was promoted to the Bundesliga with Fortuna Cologne . However, the club rose again after only a year, with Loering himself acting as a coach for three games after the separation from Volker Kottmann and before the commitment of Willi Holdorf . During his presidency he took on the post of coach or interim coach at least five times .

Kickley House (middle)

In the early 1970s, he acquired the castle-like property Haus Kickley near Rath ( Düren district ) from the Düren industrialist family Hoesch , which was designed by the architect Paul Darius . The property was already used for representative purposes and many a lavish party on the occasion of the promotion to the Bundesliga in 1973. The cheetah "Fortuna" partly lived on the property, which Jean Löring gave to the Cologne Zoo on behalf of the association after its successful rise. In 1973 alone he supported Fortuna Cologne with around 2.5 million marks and included some players on his company's payrolls. In 1975, through the mediation of his friend and Cologne finance broker Herbert Ebertz, he acquired shares in the then ailing Dorint hotel chain. In 1978 he had a tennis hall built on Vorgebirgstrasse across from Cologne's Südstadion - the venue for his football club - which housed his offices and the “Bacchus” clubhouse. At that time the stadium was under renovation. After the immediate relegation, Fortuna played for 26 years without interruption in the 2nd Bundesliga . The chance of a renewed promotion was given in 1986 in the relegation against Borussia Dortmund (2: 0, 1: 3, 0: 8).

The greatest sporting success of Fortuna under his presidency was the entry into the DFB Cup final on June 11, 1983 against 1. FC Köln , the first pure city derby in this competition ( list of DFB Cup finals ) - Fortuna was defeated by FC in the Müngersdorfer Stadium with 0: 1. Loering also liked to refer to his Fortuna as his "club", his commitment as the club's biggest sponsor is said to have cost him 15 million euros over the years. With the support of many volunteers, he created the largest youth department within the DFB during this time . Today's Fortuna has succeeded in maintaining and even expanding this great youth work for Cologne.

descent

Jean Löring transferred the castle to his wife Katharina "Käthe" Löring (* 1934) in 1996, but secured permanent right of residence. He suffered a heart attack in 1997 and largely withdrew from the public eye. In 1998 he separated from his wife and now lived with the entrepreneur Erika Wirtz. His largest company ELRO was in crisis from December 2000 and in May 2001 allegedly had tax debts amounting to 4.5 million DM. In May 2001, 1.2 million DM debts to the tax authorities also caused a crisis at Fortuna Cologne Seizure (including a piano from 1885 in the “Bacchus” clubhouse). He also had to sell his apartment building in Cologne, Severinstrasse 3 .

Among other things, Fortuna trained the Cologne football idols and former national players Bernd Schuster and Toni Schumacher at the beginning of their coaching career. Loering caused a stir when he dismissed Schumacher on December 15, 1999 during the half-time break of the game against SV Waldhof Mannheim when the score was 0: 2 (final score 1: 5). In this context he is said to have replied to a journalist's question about the extraordinary dismissal: "I as an association had to react". Fortuna's debts rose even further to 7 million DM. On April 1, 2001, the association was finally free of debt after bankruptcy proceedings. Loering resigned from the office of Fortuna President on June 13, 2001.

Löring promoted the musical singer Yana Kris-Molina (* 1968 in London). Sparkasse manager Johannes Böhne, who started at Sparkasse KölnBonn in 1962, took over the role of managing director at Fortuna Cologne in May 2001. The castle with a living space of 608 m² and an associated park of 33,000 m² was foreclosed in January 2003 ; the Düren district court had set the market value at 2.7 million euros and the creditor bank BAG Bankaktiengesellschaft from Hamm was awarded the contract. With the bid, Löring had lost his permanent right of residence, which was secured in the land register; the right of residence, capitalized to 383,000 euros, was also auctioned off by the bank. In 2009, the creditor bank was ready to allow the castle, which had been vacant for 6 years, to be auctioned for a minimum bid of 995,000 euros. Today, after extensive restoration and renovation, it is owned by the Cologne entrepreneur Enrico Drechsel. The second bankruptcy of Fortuna followed in January 2003, and a third could not be avoided.

Jean Löring - family grave in Cologne's south cemetery (hall 21)

Due to the economic failure and his poor health - his cancer had already been diagnosed in 1997 after a heart attack - and not least because of his generosity towards his club, Loering had become almost penniless in the last years of his life. And the club was no longer doing well without the long-term patron: Fortuna Köln crashed into the fourth-class league and had to stop playing there during the 2004/2005 season for financial reasons after the team had only three points in the entire first half of the season had brought her account. In February 2005, the team was withdrawn from the Oberliga Nordrhein's game operations after the club had filed for the third bankruptcy shortly before.

The long-time football president from Cologne's Südstadt district and “last patriarch” of German football died impoverished on March 6, 2005 in the palliative care unit in the Dr. Mildred Scheel House in Cologne of colon cancer . He was buried in the Südfriedhof in Cologne-Zollstock (Hall 21).

Individual evidence

• Jean Löring in the database of weltfussball.de

1. ↑ Cologne boxing legend Jupp Elze: One blow too much , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , June 30, 2018
2. ↑ FOOTBALL: Not that fun at all . In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 1973, p. 113 ( Online - June 25, 1973 ).
3. ↑ Manager magazine from September 21, 2001, Betten-Boomer
4. ^ Die Welt of February 6, 2003, Loering bitter and alone at home
5. ↑ Die Welt from May 6, 2001, Löring - A patron at the end
6. ↑ Bank acquires Löring-Villa for one million , Aachener Nachrichten of January 28, 2004
7. ↑ Express from May 13, 2009, Jean Löring's lock at a bargain price
8. ^ Gregor Gdawietz / Roland Leroi, Deutsche Fußball-Route NRW , 2008, p. 47