Titus Dittmann

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Titus Dittmann (2012) at the film premiere of Brett vor'm Kopp

Titus Eberhard Dittmann (born December 8, 1948 in Kirchen an der Sieg as Eberhard Dittmann ) is a German entrepreneur from Münster in Westphalia . He is considered the "father of the German skateboard scene". After successfully surviving the corporate crisis, his son is now running the company ( Titus GmbH ) and is the European market leader in retailing with skateboards and associated streetwear.

biography

Dittmann grew up in the Westerwald , attended elementary school at his own request , graduated from high school in 1968 and came to Münster in 1971 to study sport and geography at the Westphalian Wilhelms University . He got his name “Titus” from his brother “because he looks like a Roman emperor” and has been called that by his family and friends since he was four. During his studies he had the name registered at the registry office as the official first name.

In 1977 he completed his teaching degree and came into personal contact with skateboarding for the first time in Münster, which he claims to have only known from the media as a “children's toy” and initially considered it to be a temporary trend. In 1978 he began his legal clerkship at the Wilhelm-Hittorf-Gymnasium in Münster . Fascinated by the new US trend sport of skateboarding, he started a skateboard club with his students. In 1980 he passed his 2nd state examination with a thesis on the subject of "Skateboarding in school sports lessons".

In 1978 his wife, Brigitta Dittmann, applied for a travel trade license and ran a skateboard trade under the name Titus , since Titus Dittmann, as a teacher, was not allowed to apply for a trade license. Since there was hardly any equipment available in Europe, he flew regularly to California and bought boards and other utensils. Titus Rollsport , his first small shop in a Munster basement, was one of the first skate shops in Europe. In addition to retailing and mail order, the company began developing and pressing its own boards.

In 1980 Dittmann opened the first German outdoor skate park . Together with the Gütersloh skater Claus Grabke he founded the "Titus Show Team", the first skateboard team in Europe. In 1982 he organized his first halfpipe contest , the Münster Monster Mastership, on the parking lot of the Münster Ostbad . This resulted in one of the world's most important skateboarding tournaments, which took place in the Münsterland Hall from 1988, in the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund from 1999 and became the official Skateboard World Championship in 1989.

After four years as a teacher at the Hammonense grammar school in Hamm , he finished teaching in 1984. In 1984 he and his wife founded the first joint limited company - Titus Sport + Mode Handels GmbH, and imported skateboards, wheels, axles and accessories from the USA. With his social and educational commitment, Dittmann counters allegations that he is pulling the little money out of the pockets of the young people with his trend articles. His credo is: The board is not just a piece of sports equipment for young people, but a means of expression with which they can set themselves apart.

In the 1980s, Dittmann helped build up the skateboarding scene in the German Democratic Republic by sending professional skateboards and accessories to René Falk Thomasius , one of the skateboarding pioneers in East Germany and later skateboarding masters in the GDR, across the German border was smuggled. As a thank you, Thomasius gave him a Germina Speeder , the only skateboard produced in the GDR.

When the first skate boom subsided in the late 1980s, the company fell into crisis. In 1994, Dittmann decided to start over. He turned wholesale into a branched network of companies that increasingly focuses on retail, mail order and franchising . He also founded media and event agencies and built up joint ventures for logistics and IT systems. In 2002 Titus AG operated 30 stores nationwide, employed around 500 people and, according to its own statements, achieved an annual turnover of 75 million euros . In 2002 Titus AG got into an existential crisis. In 2007, Dittmann and his wife managed to overcome the crisis without consultants or shareholders and to reorganize Titus AG. "Titus AG" was renamed "Titus Dittmann GmbH" and then "Dittmann GmbH". All other companies in the Titus group of companies were merged into one company called "Titus Mailorder GmbH", which was later renamed "titus GmbH".

In 1993 he directed the Skaters Palace , a youth center in a disused factory in Münster , where, among other things, skateboarding courses and hip-hop , as well as rock and metal concerts, take place. In 2001 he took over the former Apollo Theater , a movie theater, and set up a youth lifestyle department store there. In the same year, Dittmann was named “Entrepreneur of the Year 2001” in the “Trade” section by Manager Magazin and by the management consultancy Ernst & Young , and the city of Münster was awarded the business prize.

Dittmann has been married since 1974 and has a son who joined the family company as a trainee in 2003 and started his own skateboard wholesaling business in 2005. In 2006 Dittmann went to a secondary school in Karlsruhe for 30 days as a teacher for the RTL II series Das Experiment . In 2007, after several difficult entrepreneurial years, including a failed IPO , Dittmann was able to return to the black for the first time, achieved sales of 40 million euros and a profit of around 2.5 million euros. In 2008 the company consisted of 85 employees, two premium spaces, four outlets , 28 franchise stores and mail order in Germany and other German-speaking countries.

On October 5th, 2009 Dittmann was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia by Jürgen Rüttgers for his voluntary work.

On December 18, 2009, Dittmann founded the Titus Dittmann Foundation. Under their umbrella, skate-aid supports national and international humanitarian projects for children and young people. In the summer of 2009, Dittmann withdrew from the operational business of Dittmann GmbH and has since devoted himself completely to the work of the foundation. In September 2009, skate-aid opened the first skate and sports facility for 7,000 school children in Karukh in western Afghanistan in the Herat province , which was created in cooperation with Rupert Neudeck and his initiative Grünhelme eV . On November 8, 2010, Dittmann's skate-aid initiative in Kitzbühel, Austria, was awarded the renowned “Laureus Media Prize” for its work in Afghanistan and Africa, including Uganda , Tanzania , Kenya and South Africa . The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation awarded the prize to skate-aid in the “Social Sports Project” category.

At the beginning of August 2011 it was announced that Dittmann will be accepting a teaching position at the Institute for Sports Science for the 2011/2012 winter semester at the Westphalian Wilhelms University, which will be about skating.

Interview with Titus Dittmann immediately before the premiere of the film Brett vor'm Kopp in the Cineplex Münster

His life's work appeared on the big screen in 2012 as a documentary called Brett vor'm Kopp .

At the end of 2012, Titus Dittmann was awarded the Silver Kiepe by the German Hotel and Restaurant Association because he “worked in an exemplary manner outside the city limits of Münster for the reputation of the city” . At Christmas 2012, Dittmann published his biography Brett für die Welt at Quadriga-Verlag in Berlin , which he wrote together with co-author Michael Matthias.

In June 2013 Titus Dittmann received the special award of the founder award as an entrepreneur who founded almost 100 companies and is considered the father of the German skateboard scene. At the award ceremony broadcast by ZDF, he said: "Find a job that you enjoy and you will never work again."

In 2015 he became World Chairman of the FIRS (Federation Internationale de Rollersports).

In addition to skateboarding, Dittmann does other sports privately, including mountaineering , snowboarding , hang gliding , car racing and parachuting with a skateboard on his feet.

Movies

literature

  • Titus Dittmann: Board for the world . Waxmann , Münster, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-8309-3220-8 .
  • Titus believes in kids and boards - not in business administration , in: Handelsblatt No. 120, June 26, 1998.
  • Titus takes and gives , in: IHK-Wirtschaftsspiegel, No. 6/2001.
  • From Monsters in Münster , in: Stadtgeflüster Münster, No. 2/2005.
  • A career in the border area , in: Münsterische Sonntagszeitung, September 17, 2006.
  • Steffi Biber: Keep on rollin 'winner of hearts - the Titus team and its Green Gas Viper , in: Chrom & Flammen, No. 338, August 2010, p. 100 ff.
  • Claus Hornung: Rolle zurückwärts , in: enable, magazine for entrepreneurs, Financial Times Germany, July 2010.
  • Meaning comes before profit , in: mobil, the magazine of Deutsche Bahn, No. 4, April 2010, p. 40 ff.
  • Nicolette Scharpenberg: Help with a difference , in: X-ray, January 2010, p. 58 ff.
  • At 17 you still have dreams , in: Der Spiegel / Kulturspiegel, 4/2009, p. 54.
  • Tobias Romberg: What moves ... Titus Dittmann? The world should applaud him , in: Die Zeit, No. 19 of April 30, 2009, p. 38.
  • Alexandra Bloch Pfister: A businessman as a social worker in the skateboard scene , in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung (international edition), No. 56 of March 9, 2009, p. 8.
  • It was ten years of high altitude and hell , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, No. 46 of November 16, 2008, p. 39 ff.
  • I'm incredibly good at shitting myself in: brand eins from August 1st, 2008.
  • Titus Dittmann: Open and Above Board . Waxmann, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-8309-3510-0
  • Titus Dittmann: Learning doesn't have to be shit ., Münster 2019, ISBN 978-3710900686

Web links

Commons : Titus Dittmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RP Online : Skater legend Titus opens on Saturday , Mönchengladbach, Inge Schnettler, March 14, 2013
  2. ↑ Titus turns 60: “It's just getting started” , Westfälische Nachrichten , Martin Kalitschke, December 6, 2008
  3. ↑ a b c I can shit myself incredibly well ( memento of the original from October 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , brand eins, August 1st, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.brandeins.de
  4. ^ Til Knipper: Interview with Titus Dittmann - I considered 95 percent market share to be normal , In: karriere.de, May 22, 2009.
  5. ↑ the support team has a corresponding document under ticket: 2012031910003621
  6. ↑ a b c d e Titus Dittmann: The Extreme ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Career Guide, Bettina Blass, November 6, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.karrierefuehrer.de
  7. ↑ a b Stern TV , RTL , July 4, 2012
  8. ↑ Stern : Skateboarding: A Sport Between East and West Germany ( Memento from July 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), July 4, 2012
  9. ↑ a b c Portraits - The Old Man and the Board , 2001
  10. ↑ State order for entrepreneurs and skateboard veteran Titus Dittmann , Westfälische Nachrichten , October 5, 2009
  11. ↑ www.skate-aid.org
  12. ↑ a b Basically, I am an extremely fearful person ( memento of the original from February 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , muenchen.business-on.de, Edda Nebel, February 7, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / muenchen.business-on.de
  13. ↑ Titus Dittmann becomes “Skateboard Professor” , Westfälische Nachrichten , Martin Kalitschke, August 2, 2011
  14. ^ Münstersche Zeitung : Silver Kiepe for Dittmann , Münster / Wirtschaft, Münster, October 30, 2012
  15. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Award from the Hotel and Restaurant Association: "Silver Kiepe" for Skater Pope Titus Dittmann  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 3, 2013@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wn.de  
  16. ^ A b Westfälische Nachrichten : Biography of Titus Dittmann: A story of ascent, crashing and getting up , Dietrich Harhues, December 23, 2012
    Westfälische Nachrichten : Read: Titus Dittmann tells from his life - boards that connect the world , culture, Dietrich Harhues , December 22, 2012
  17. ↑ Press release Deutscher Gründerpreis ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( PDF , 64 kB ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.deutscher-gruenderpreis.de
  18. ↑ GIG-online.de: Gala (Münster) , Alexandra Mai, in: GIG, No. 327, August 2013, p. 58
  19. ↑ http://www.wn.de/Lokalsport/Muenster/2174682-Titus-Dittmann-soll-Skateboard-olympia-fit-machen-Mann-ueber-Board
personal data
SURNAME Dittmann, Titus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dittmann, Eberhard (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, co-founder of the German skateboard scene and founder of Titus Dittmann GmbH
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Churches at the victory