Robert Gilles

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Robert Thomas Gilles (born August 22, 1923 in Eupen ; † December 31, 2003 ibid) was a Belgian handball player , handball trainer and sports official .

Live and act

Robert Gilles was the son of Josef Egidius Gilles (1893-1943) and Maria Theresia, née Pitsch (1893-1946), and a cousin of Brigitte Gilles . He began his sporting career in 1933 as a gymnast and handball player in the gymnastics community of Eupen (TG) in 1876, from which the gymnastics and sports club (TSV) Eupen developed in 1949 and later the royal gymnastics and sports club (KTSV) Eupen. In 1937 Gilles played in the newly formed youth team and in 1939 in the first men's team of the TG Eupen. After Eupens was incorporated into Germany by the German Wehrmacht in May 1940, Gilles was initially appointed to the district selection that was now responsible and in 1941 to the Middle Rhine selection.

During the Second World War , Gilles had to do his military service in the Wehrmacht and was taken prisoner by Russia in Czechoslovakia and was transported to Camp 23 in Karaganda . He was released on Christmas Eve 1945 and was able to return to Eupen via Sevastopol , Szeged and Bregenz , where he arrived a few days after his mother's death in July 1946.

Then Gilles took up handball again and was used as a center forward in field handball in Belgium's first international match against Luxembourg in 1947 . Up to the age of 43, outside of the league games at TSV Eupen, he played 33 games in the provincial team and 22 official international games for the Belgian men's national handball team .

After the end of his active career in handball, Gilles devoted himself to coaching and initially took over the first women's team at TSV Eupen, which did not lose a game in Belgium during the four years of his training between 1953 and 1957. A few years later he coached the 1st men's team from 1964 to 1967, with which he made it to the 1st division of Belgium in 1965. After a period of distance he took over the first women's team again from 1972 to 1975 and from 1979 the youth teams for a while.

In the meantime, Gilles was elected President of TSV Eupen in 1968 and then acted as Vice President and Secretary for a few years. His main focus was on promoting young talent and, since 1952, on cross-border contacts, especially in Germany, which earned him several awards from the Aachen handball group and the Mittelrhein handball association.

Robert Gilles had been married to Regina, nee Schneider (1922–2015) since January 1966.

Honors

For his success as an active athlete, trainer and sports official, Gilles has received numerous honors, including:

  • 1972 the bronze badge of honor of the handball association Mittelrhein
  • 1976 honorary membership of TSV Eupen
  • 1977 TSV Eupen's golden badge of honor
  • 1978 the badge of honor of the handball group Aachen
  • 1982 he was appointed honorary president of TSV Eupen
  • 1983 the honor plate of the city of Eupen
  • 1983 ADEPS (Administration de l'Education Physique et des Sports) gold medal for sports merit

literature

  • Robert Gilles (TSV Eupen) - 50 years in the service of handball , in: Grenz-Echo from December 14, 1982
  • Big station for Robert Gilles - 50 years of loyalty to the association celebrated in style , in: Grenz-Echo from January 3, 1983
  • Emil Cloot: Festschrift 100 Years of the KTSV (1889–1989) , finding aid in the archive of the Eupen History and Museum Association

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Toussaint: Lost Years - Through the Hell of Karaganda , in: Grenz-Echo from April 4, 1986
  2. ^ Ceremony of the TSV for promotion to the 1st division - honor for players and board , in: Grenz-Echo from June 22, 1965
personal data
SURNAME Gilles, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gilles, Robert Thomas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian handball player, handball trainer and sports official
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Eupen
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 2003
Place of death Eupen