Kurt Baluses

Kurt Baluses (born June 30, 1914 in Allenstein / East Prussia ; † March 28, 1972 in Ludwigsburg ) was a football player and coach who coached VfB Stuttgart in the first year of the Bundesliga, 1963/64 .

Player career

The former selection player (1935-42) from East Prussia and team captain began his playing career at SV Allenstein in Warmia and then continued at VfB Königsberg until the end of the war. With Königsberg he was the left wing runner or stopper in the years 1940-1944 five times in a row Gaumeister of East Prussia and therefore also took part in the final round of the German championship in these years . As early as 1938, he was a participant in a 14-day screening course for national player aspirants under Reich coach Sepp Herberger in Duisburg.

After the end of World War II , he moved to Schleswig-Holstein . There he joined Holstein Kiel for a short time in 1945 , but soon switched (probably together with Kurt Lingnau ) to Eckernförder SV , for whom he - most of the time as a player-coach - from 1945 to 1947, initially after the war, as the highest Played in the regional championship league. With Eckernförder SV Baluses became district champion in 1946 before Holstein Kiel and reached the finals for the Schleswig-Holstein championship in 1946 and 1947. The participation in the North German football championship final, for which he had actually qualified with the Eckernförder SV 1946, prevented a decision by the then responsible district association to nominate Holstein Kiel instead of the Eckernförder SV, whereupon the British military government u. a. dissolved this district association and suspended the board of Holstein Kiel for life. Baluses, like Fritz Langner , who was the Eckernförder player-coach for the rest of the season, was deprived of the fruits of his first coaching work.

Afterwards, Baluses moved - according to individual information with a brief stopover at Rot-Weiß Niebüll - to the district town of Itzehoe and celebrated the championship of Schleswig-Holstein four times as player-coach and team captain with the local Itzehoer SV and promotion to the top football league in 1949/50 North . The 36-year-old played 29 games for ISV in the 1950/51 league round, but could not prevent immediate relegation. Baluses played with two players at VfB Königsberg, in the East Prussian national team, at Eckernförder SV and at Itzehoer SV: Kurt Lingnau and Kurt Krause ; with Erwin Scheffler he also played together with VfB Königsberg, in the East Prussian team, with Itzehoer SV and possibly also with Rot-Weiß Niebüll.

Eckernförder SV and Itzehoer SV were also Baluse's first coaching stations as player coaches. He was player-coach with the Eckernförderung possibly again in 1953/54. In the summer of 1954 he got the first chance to take over the coaching position at a big club in the upper league, so he left Schleswig-Holstein and moved west to 1. FC Köln .

Stations

• SV Allenstein
• VfB Königsberg (1936–1944)
• Holstein Kiel (1945)
• Eckernförder SV (1945–1947 and n. A. also 1953/54)
• Itzehoer SV (1948–1952)

Coaching career

1. FC Köln (1954/55)

The round of 1954/55 did not bring the hoped-for success for 1. FC Köln or Baluses. Despite well-known players such as Herbert Dörner , Paul Mebus , Josef Röhrig , the “world champion” Hans Schäfer and Georg Stollenwerk , only the negative points account of 29:31 points resulted, with which the “billy goats” came in 7th place. Baluses was replaced in Cologne after only one season by Hennes Weisweiler .

Eintracht Braunschweig (1956–1960)

He got the second chance in 1956/57 in the Oberliga Nord in the Welfenstadt Braunschweig at the local Eintracht . He remembered a hopeless reservist from 1. FC Köln and brought Hans Jäcker to Lower Saxony as the new goalkeeper , who immediately played all 30 games for Eintracht. The same seventh place as in Cologne was the result of his first round with his new employer - only that the club, players and supporters were satisfied with what they had achieved. In the second season Ernst-Otto Meyer and Werner Thamm shot Kurt Baluses' team to 2nd place and thus to the final round of the German championship. In the year of the soccer world championship 1958 in Sweden, the final round was shortened and played without second legs. The games against FC Schalke 04 and Karlsruher SC were lost, you could only win against Tennis Borussia Berlin . In the next two rounds it was no longer enough to make it to the finals. Baluses, however, succeeded in expanding the squad with a promising future with the incorporation of players Wolfgang Brase, Joachim Bäse , Klaus Meyer, Jürgen Moll and Walter Schmidt . “Hennes” Jäcker: “The core of the team was gradually brought in by him and played together for years. We were a predominantly combative team with excellent camaraderie, that was our strength. Back then, Baluses sown what unity reaped years later. ”(Quoted from the history of the Oberliga Nord , Klartext, 1991, ISBN 3-88474-463-1 ). However, his time at Eintracht Braunschweig was apparently marked by quarrels; after his departure there, Baluses framed the word “Eintracht” in the club name with quotation marks.

VfB Stuttgart (1960-1965)

In the 1960/61 round, he succeeded Georg Wurzer at VfB Stuttgart . The sporting legacy of the master coach in 1950 and 1952 and the VfB Cup successes in 1954 and 1958 was not easy. The way to the top of the football league south did not succeed in the remaining three years until 1963. For the new football Bundesliga 1963/64, the Swabian region was therefore upgraded in terms of personnel. The lost sons Rolf Geiger (AC Mantua) and Erwin Waldner (SPAL Ferrara) were brought home and Hans Arnold from VfR Mannheim and Gerd Menne from FSV Frankfurt were also signed up. These activities paid off, Baluses was able to take fifth place with the Stuttgart team in the Bundesliga, which is far better in terms of sport. Geiger flourished again and Klaus-Dieter Sieloff started a remarkable career. Both VfB players were appointed to the national team by national coach Sepp Herberger for his farewell game on June 7, 1964 in Helsinki against Finland . However, the transfer policy did not succeed in the second round of the Bundesliga. Helmut Huttary (Hessen Kassel) and Helmut Siebert (Ulm 1846) were unable to make the move from the regional league to the Bundesliga straight away. Only Hartmut Weiß (TSV Bernhausen), who had a strong header and came from the amateur camp, surprised with his nine hits in 15 missions.

In the end, the licensed players of VfB Stuttgart refused in a letter to chairman Dr. Fritz Walter started another collaboration with Baluses. Kurt Baluses was released on February 24, 1965, and VfB Stuttgart was 11th in the table with 18:26 points. They relied on the eloquent Rudi Gutendorf and hoped to make contact with the top of the Bundesliga through him. Baluses had time to prepare for his next engagement with the Offenbacher Kickers , where he worked from the 1965/66 round.

Kickers Offenbach (1965–1968)

The team from Bieberer Berg and Alemannia Aachen were “victims” of not being nominated for the Bundesliga in 1963/64. The two third places in the first two years of the Regionalliga Süd in 1964 and 1965 increased the pressure on the new coach to lead the OFC into the Bundesliga with all his might. The presidium could not keep the great striker Sigfried Held on the Main, who signed with Borussia Dortmund . The conscientious worker Baluse brought the Hessen into the promotion round in 1966, but could not keep up with the promoted Fortuna Düsseldorf in terms of performance . In the second round he won the championship title in the south and narrowly missed promotion against Alemannia Aachen. For the third season, 1967/68, the staffing of Dieter Fern , Ferdinand Heidkamp , Egon Schmitt and Roland Weida was successful . This makes the dismissal of Kurt Baluses in March 1968 after a brief period of weakness by the impulsive President Horst-Gregorio Canellas , at least partially understandable. The squad was better than in previous years, the promotion simply had to succeed, that was the opinion in Offenbach. In fact, the OFC rose to the Bundesliga in June 1968. Whether this was only possible because of the coach's dismissal is purely speculative. The balance of Baluses in Offenbach is noteworthy with his two-time entry into the promotion round. The man from East Prussia became at home in the south, he switched to the Bundesliga relegated Karlsruher SC for the 1968/69 round .

Karlsruher SC (1968–1971)

At the beginning of June 1968 the newly appointed trainer of the KSC wrote to each of his new protégés in which he also addressed behavior for the transition phase without training: “Everyone should already be aware that they are in the best of health and physical condition and with normal competition weight has to come to the opening training to save yourself the arduous struggle against extra pounds. That is why I advise you to take advantage of the break in play that is now occurring, but also to take advantage of it to heal old injuries and other physical damage or complaints. Beware of injuries caused by carelessness! "

He took over a relegated team who had only 14:20 in the home games of the last Bundesliga season 1967/68 and 3:31 points in the away games, and who had worn four coaches with Frantz, Gawliczek, Widmayer and Termath this season. Since Jürgen Rynio and Klaus Zaczyk (both for 1. FC Nürnberg ) two of the few top performers left the wildlife park before the start of the round in 1968/69 , as well as ex-international Günter Herrmann (FC Sion) and the French Winger Gérard Hausser (FC Metz) changed clubs, it could already be said of a loss of substance. When he took office, the new coach said: “I was attracted to the task as such, to take on a team that needs to be saved from a crash. A healthy person does not need a doctor, and a doctor can only prove his skills on a sick person. ”Despite these adversities, Baluses managed to lead KSC into the 1969 promotion round as champions of the Regionalliga Süd. During the season he also coped with Arthur Dobat's career graduation (only seven games left) and the almost complete failure of midfielder Willi Dürrschnabel (3 games), although the slump of the 23-year-old UEFA youth selection player from 1963, who was in the Bundesliga came to 26 appearances with two goals came as a complete surprise. In the promotion round, the men around defense chief Jupp Marx and playmaker Horst Wild could not do anything against Rot-Weiss Essen . Captain Marx believed in the new coach: "He knew how to give the team self-confidence again and to let inner calm return."

This was followed by two runners-up championships in 1970 and 1971 and, above all, in the promotion round in 1970, the very narrow failure with 11: 5 to 12: 4 points against Arminia Bielefeld . Kurt Baluses' team in the 1969/70 round had the best substance. Offenbach was with 59:17 to 58:18 points before the KSC in the Regionalliga champions, prevailed in the promotion round and on August 29, 1970 also won the DFB Cup with 2-1 goals . With a 1: 2 loss of Karlsruhe in the first away game of the promotion round at VfL Osnabrück (VfL scored a total of four points). After the second runner-up in 1971, the presidium of the KSC surprised: five days before the first game of the promotion round, the coach, who had brought Karlsruhe into the promotion round three times in a row, was dismissed on May 21, 1971. There was nothing to be seen of an explosion in performance, VfL Bochum went lonely and rose to the Bundesliga, KSC had no chance of promotion against Hans Walitza and Co.

Baluses had their own opinion on the function of the manager as well as on profitability (1970). He rejected a manager as a matter of principle: “If he does not want to lose track of the whole thing, his tasks belong to the trainer's field. With today's development it is necessary for the head coach to perform both tasks. Only tight leadership is a guarantee for success! ”Regarding full profit, he remarked:“ It is certainly right if the players do their work at least half a day, because only football alone is dull! ”

Spvgg 07 Ludwigsburg (1971/72)

The 57-year-old took over the Swabian newly promoted SpVgg Ludwigsburg in the Regionalliga Süd in 1971/72 . Outstanding was the 5-1 home win for Ludwigsburg in the preliminary round on October 3, 1971 against 1. FC Nürnberg. In his last game just two days before his death, Kurt Baluses looked after Ludwigsburg in their 2-1 draw on March 26, 1972 at 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 .

swell

• Ulrich Homann (Hrsg.): Hellfire on Ascension. The history of the promotion rounds to the Bundesliga 1963–1974. Klartext, Essen 1990, ISBN 3-88474-346-5 .
• Jens Reimer Prüß (Ed.): Bung bottle with flat pass cork. The history of the Oberliga Nord 1947–1963. Klartext, Essen 1991, ISBN 3-88474-463-1 .
• 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 .
• Matthias Weinrich: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 3: 35 years of the Bundesliga. Part 1. The founding years 1963–1975. Stories, pictures, constellations, tables. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89784-132-0 .
• Ulrich Merk, André Schulin: Bundesliga chronicle 1964/65. Volume 2: Werder's surprise coup. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-89784-084-7 .
• Kurt Baluses, presentation at VfB Stuttgart, Vereinnachrichten 55/1960.

Individual references and comments

1. ↑ Both Baluses and Lingnau were also active as table tennis players at Eckernförder SV; Source: Eckernförder SV club history from 1973.
2. ↑ from short-term to a maximum of one year at http://www.weltfussball.de/player_profil/kurt-baluses/ , neither Kurt Baluses (introduction) nor Rot-Weiß Niebüll (club history) name this station.
3. ↑ Transfermarkt.de