Theo Clausen

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Theodor Clausen (born July 6, 1911 in Paramaribo , Surinam , † May 10,  1985 in Lich ) was a German basketball coach and official. He was one of the pioneers of basketball in Germany and from 1947 to 1951 national coach.

career

Clausen was born in Surinam  as the son of a missionary from Germany. From 1921 he went  to school in Bautzen at a boarding school of the Moravian Brethren , then studied at the Institute for Physical Education in Berlin and from 1934 to 1936 attended Springfield College in the United States on a scholarship , where James Naismith invented the sport of basketball in 1891 would have. During his studies at Springfield College, Clausen's enthusiasm for basketball was aroused. At the 1936 Summer Olympics he worked as a translator in the Olympic Village . After the end of his stay in the USA and his return to his home country, he was commissioned by the Reich Association for Physical Education to spread the sport in Germany as a hiking instructor and as a seminar leader in Marburg and Gießen  . From 1939 he lived in Roßdorf .

In 1940 Clausen was called up for military service. After the end of the war he lived in Roßdorf again, took over the management of a care work for the German youth on behalf of the US Army and worked as a basketball coach in Roßdorf, where in 1947 he started the first basketball department in Germany after the second at the local SKG Roßdorf World War brought into being. He worked as a sports teacher in Darmstadt and Frankfurt am Main . Even before the establishment of the German Basketball Federation (DBB), the first German men's basketball championships after the war and the first ever German women's basketball championships were held in Darmstadt on Clausen's initiative in 1947. As part of the championships, the “Society for the Promotion of Basketball” was founded, the forerunner of the DBB. In 1948 he brought out the magazine "Basketball" for the first time. In 1949 Clausen organized the first German youth basketball championships for boys in Rossdorf, and in 1950 for girls too.

From 1947 to 1951 he was the coach of the German national basketball team and as a sports manager for the German selection at the first European Championship participation in 1951 in Paris . Clausen was also a referee at the European Championship tournament. In 1955 he took up the position as head of the Graf Friedrich Magnus Alumnate in Laubach, which was affiliated with the Paul Gerhardt Gymnasium . There he supported the future national basketball player and mentor of Dirk Nowitzki , Holger Geschwindner . Clausen headed the alumnate until 1974. He died in Lich in 1985 . In September 2012 a memorial stele was erected in Laubach in memory of Theo Clausen.

His son Karl  became  German basketball champion in 1965 with MTV 1846 Gießen .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Administrator: History - Roßdorf Torros | Basketball in the SKG Roßdorf. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  2. ↑ http://basketball-bund-media.de/wp-content/uploads/DBB-Journal_21.pdf
  3. ^ Munzinger-Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg: Holger Geschwindner - Munzinger biography. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  4. ↑ www.alsfelder-allgemeine.de - your newspaper for Alsfeld and the surrounding area: a stele in Laubach reminds of basketball pioneer Clausen | Alsfelder Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  5. ↑ GIESSEN 46ers | Missionary and Terrier: Carl Clausen - GIESSEN 46ers. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Clausen, Theo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clausen, Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German basketball coach and official
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Paramaribo , Suriname
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1985
Place of death Lich