VfL Osnabrück (basketball)

Successes and titles between 1967 and 1970
1967	German runner-up and DBB cup winner
1968	German vice-champion
1969	German champion and DBB runner-up cup winner
1970	DBB vice-cup winner

The basketball department of VfL Osnabrück (Verein für Leibesübungen von 1899 e.V.) existed until the beginning of the 1970s and from the mid-1990s to 2017.

In the second half of the 1960s, VfL Osnabrück was one of the best-known and most successful "top teams" of the German Basketball Federation (DBB). With the promotion from the Lower Saxony league to the first-class Oberliga Nord in 1958, the foundation stone for the subsequent success story of the Osnabrück basketball team was laid. In the 1965/66 season, the VfL team qualified as the season winner of the Oberliga Nord for the new two-part basketball Bundesliga  (BBL) and was one of the 20 founding teams in the first BBL season in 1966/67 . In the very first Bundesliga season, the VfL was runner-up and winner of the DBB Cup, which is also new . Followed by another runner-up championship in the 1967/68 season , VfL achieved its first and only German championship title in the 1968/69 season .

In parallel to its success at national level, VfL also took part in international competitions. The Osnabrückers were represented in three seasons in the European Cup competitions of the basketball world association " FIBA ". In 1968 the VfL players were able to reach the round of 16 in the European competition for national cup winners . The players of the Bundesliga teams were in the years of success on the borders of Germany as a popular figure known and worked for the city of Osnabrück as a "figurehead".

Outstanding Bundesliga players who were experienced in their associations' international matches and / or by participating in international FIBA ​​competitions were Helmut Uhlig, Klaus Weinand and Rassem Yahya, who were champions of the German Basketball Federation ( German Basketball Association) on one or more occasions before their time at VfL Osnabrück with their previous first division clubs ( DBB) or the German Basketball Association of the GDR  (DBV). From the group of five VfL Bundesliga player (At the time, four "current" players as well as with Rolf Dieter a former VfL Youth and Bundesliga players.), Who came to the stage of Olympic preparation in the senior team after October 1968 use, included in 1972 At the Olympic basketball tournament in Munich, two VfL players joined the Olympic team of the National Olympic Committee ( NOK ) for Germany.

In the course of their playing career, the VfL players, with their club team and / or in one of the national teams of their basketball association, had time and again had the opportunity to compete against the most powerful players in European basketball at a high athletic level and to test their outstanding playing skills orientate. In addition to dealing with the top players of the European basketball competitions on the floor , there were also encounters with coaches and referees of European basketball (The most important personalities of them were from the ULEB in 2008, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the first European Cup competition in 1958 Euroleague summarized in the Euroleague's 50 Greatest Contributors List and honored at an official ceremony in Madrid .).

In the second half of the 1960s, VfL Osnabrück , together with four other clubs, Alemannia Aachen , Eintracht Frankfurt , FC Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 Munich , belonged to the group of first and second division clubs of the German Football Association (DFB) who were represented by a basketball team among the DBB's first division teams.

History and success factors

In the 1960s, Osnabrück was one of the most important basketball strongholds in Lower Saxony , along with Göttingen , Hanover and Oldenburg, due to the very good training work in schools and clubs . At the end of the 1957/1958 season, the men's team at VfL Osnabrück , with the Yugoslav player-coach Mico Orlovic, was promoted from the Lower Saxony League to the Oberliga Nord, the DBB's top division at the time, in which the DBB's Berlin teams also played. Subsequently, at the beginning of the 1958/1959 season, the senior international Lothar Waldowski , later DBB national coach of the women's national team , took over responsibility for the training and coaching of the newcomer as player -coach . The VfL team succeeded in 1959, with the internationally experienced Waldowski in the playmaker position, as a "newcomer", to become unbeaten "champions" of the Oberliga Nord and to qualify for the final round of the German championship of the DBB. The former second division clubs Osnabrücker TC (OTC) and MTV Osnabrück , which were always at the top of the table in their league , also played very successfully . All three clubs, like the numerous other basketball clubs in the basketball district of Osnabrück, performed exemplary youth work. At VfL, the basketball department head Klaus Manthey, at that time sports editor of the Osnabrücker Tageblatt  (" OT "), was always extremely committed until he left Osnabrück in 1967 for professional reasons. Until then, Manthey was, among other things, trainer and coach of the Osnabrück national and selection players von Bock, Dieter, V. Gaber, Homm, Husemann, Koppermann and Mentgen. He was also active as a player and referee as well as an official in the basketball district. The then chairman of the Osnabrück basketball district, Jürgen Molitor , (DJK Blau-Weiß Schinkel since 1961 ), at the end of the 1950s a teammate of Manthey in the VfL league team, who was appointed DBB managing director in the mid-1980s and subsequently for the national sports association was active for several years, always supported the challenging game and ambitious training of the VfL Bundesliga players from his position as chairman of the Osnabrück basketball district .

In addition to the targeted youth work, the dovetailing of school sports at the Osnabrück high schools, Gymnasium Carolinum , Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium and Ratsgymnasium Osnabrück with the youth work of the clubs was a success factor . An example of this is the longstanding work of Werner Henke, senior teacher at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium in Osnabrück, as a sports official, who was the team supervisor of the VfL league team from 1958 to 1966, in VfL and in the basketball district of Osnabrück, founded in November 1957 (Im The first basketball game of an Osnabrück team took place in March 1953. Students from the state high school for boys played in the gym on Arndtstrasse against students from the Lithuanian high school Vasario 16 from Diepholz . Senior student teacher Otto Papenhausen is considered to be the teacher who worked in the first half of the 1950s created the basis for basketball to be established as a sport at Osnabrück boys' grammar schools .). Benefited the sport of basketball in the Osnabrück region also has the commitment of the university teacher and former Athletics -Olympiatrainers Hermann Westermann House 1924 winners, in the German Championship of the decathlon , the sport of basketball in the late 1950s in the training concept of the Pedagogical University Osnabrück take to prospective school teachers during their To impart knowledge of their studies and to give them their first own experience in training and playing in the basketball game, which at that time was still little popular in Germany. Another important factor was the never-ending readiness of the gymnasium caretakers to always open the sports halls when they were needed by the youngsters and league players. VfL's A youth teams were always to be found in the ranking of the top tournament placements at the annual youth championships of the Lower Saxony Basketball Association (NBV). Youth players from the Osnabrück basketball district, such as Homm, Husemann, Kollmann, Mentgen, Mimitz and K. Vennegeerts, were among the successful selection teams of the NBV, especially in the tournaments for the youth cup of the DBB , in the era of the Lower Saxony regional association coach Felix Szöllösy from Braunschweig .

In 1966, pupils of the Ratsgymnasium Osnabrück , ten young basketball players from the Osnabrück region, in the Ischeland sports hall in Hagen , won the final of the first DBB national tournament for “the country's best school teams” against the players from the Schalker Gymnasium from Gelsenkirchen Eight student teams from among all schools in the eleven federal states had qualified. Seven students from the winning team played in teams from VfL Osnabrück . Four players from the winning team (von Bock, V. Gaber, Husemann, U. Renner) played after their time as VfL basketball players in Osnabrück, Ulrich Renner was trained at the Osnabrück tennis club , in the course of her first division career, for a total of four BBL clubs (in Hamburg, Heidelberg, Mainz and Munich). At the end of the 1968/1969 season, the VfL Osnabrück A youth team , with Bundesliga players Ansmann, Haferkamp, ​​Meyer and Rupp, made it to the DBB youth final, which took place on June 15, 1969 in Hamburg, right before the DBB Cup. Finals of the seniors, won by the youngsters of the MTV Giessen (MTV) with 80:69. The coaches of the two youth teams were national players Bernd Röder (MTV) and Helmut Uhlig (VfL).

Establishment and development of the master team

In 1964, Klaus Weinand was one of the two initiators of the legendary Osnabrück master team , together with the then VfL President and steel construction contractor "Friedel" Schwarze . The two-meter center was then known as "Mister Basketball" in Germany. With two of his three previous top division clubs, USC Heidelberg and Alemannia Aachen , the medical student had won three DBB championship titles since 1961, until then (1962/1963 Weinand studied in Berlin. At the end of the season he was in the DBB championship finals with the Neuköllner Sportfreunde , against the Aachen Alemannia, and reached the runner-up championship.). Both knew that a basketball team in Germany could only be successful if semi-professional conditions were given. "Friedel" Schwarze was a local patriot. He had recognized that the success of a top team from Osnabrück would “do good” for the Osnabrück region - with great national and international impact. In his decision to strengthen the top division basketball team at that time in order to lead the VfL team into the group of top teams of the planned BBL, President Schwarze relied primarily on information and the when he signed the players Böttger, H. Uhlig and Weinand Advice from Hein-Gerd Tenfelde, a former youth and amateur league footballer for VfL (Tenfelde was one of Schwarze's interlocutors when it came to identifying possible new contract footballers for VfL.). In Cologne, as a fellow student , he had regular contact with the players of the university basketball team at the University of Cologne , for whom the students Böttger, Jarré, Plock, Posern, R. Tobien and Weinand, among others, at the university championships of the General German University Sports Association ( adh ) played. 

Already in the first season of Klaus Weinand in Osnabrück, VfL finished the season as champions of the Oberliga Nord, in the final against MTV Gießen , with the runner-up championship of the DBB. The final of the German championship of the 1964/1965 season was played on May 23, 1965, in front of more than 1,500 spectators, in the Heidelberg high school sports hall. Only five seconds before the end of the game Ernest "Ernie" Butler, the US playmaker of MTV (later FC Bayern Munich ) and "Matchwinner" (eight points), was able to decide the exciting championship game with a "throw of the century" from a very long distance . Score: 68:69 (38:35) for MTV Giessen .

Framework and conditions

All Bundesliga players at VfL Osnabrück were amateurs , according to the regulations of the German Sports Association ( DSB ). They were schoolchildren , were apprentices or trainees , studied at foreign universities , were temporarily in the armed forces or pursued a regular job . Some players received an allowance from the club . The DBB squad players were also financially supported by Deutsche Sporthilfe as part of the preparatory phase for the 1972 Summer Olympics, which began in autumn 1968 . The support of a basketball league teams through sponsors that time was basically (It was known that the VfL, established by the not yet common performance sport-oriented activities of his basketball, football and table tennis player , on the patronage of its President Black, a sports enthusiast and medium-sized entrepreneurs , had to rely.) . Personalities in the vicinity of the VfL President used existing contacts in politics and business to actively support players, in individual cases, in their professional positioning, in the search for suitable living space, in solving given problems, etc. The decisive discussions with players in the phases of establishing contact and the specific agreement were also held by them (the Osnabrück lawyer Hermann Gösmann , one of the predecessors of “Friedel” Schwarze in the office of VfL President, was part of the VfL President's "network" . at that time member of the council of the city of Osnabrück, from 1962 to 1975 president of the German Football Association .). The training usually took place in the evenings for four days - in Osnabrück and Cologne . As part of the preparations for the season, the athletics facilities and the outdoor basketball court at the Illoshöhe stadium were used. The VfL squad players regularly attended the DBB courses and took part in international matches at home and abroad , including in international tournaments and FIBA ​​competitions, with the A and / or B national team. The VfL team only became a licensed professional trainer and coach in 1968, after repeated criticism by national coach Bilek (on April 30, 1967 after the final defeat in Mannheim: “Today it has been shown that no top team can do without a coach .… “ .) And targeted interventions from the DBB Presidium, towards VfL President Schwarze.

Basketball Bundesliga and DBB Cup

From the 1966/1967 season onwards, “first class” basketball was played in the new, two-part basketball league in Germany. Paragraph 1 of the Bundesliga statute said in 1966: "In the Bundesliga, the best teams in the DBB should be brought together to increase performance at the top." At the end of the 1966/1967 season, the DBB won the championship title for the first time the newly donated DBB-Pokal was played nationwide. The DBB vice-champion in 1965 was well prepared for the new challenges in terms of sport and organization, had an almost ideal environment for the time, received the necessary support and had a well-suited new, modern sports hall with a capacity of around 2,200 spectators.

Start of the BBL - 1st matchday in autumn 1966

TSV Schwaben Augsburg BC Darmstadt DÜSSELDORF: ATV  u. TuSA Green and white Frankfurt ASC Gelsenkirchen MTV casting Hellas Göttingen HAGEN:  SSV u. TSV 1860 Post SV Hannover HEIDELBERG:  TV 46  u. USC MUNICH: •  FC Bayern •  TSV 1860 •  MTSV Schwabing SV Möhringen Oldenburg TB VfL Osnabrück MTV Wolfenbüttel

October 1st / 2nd, 1966: First day of the basketball Bundesliga (BBL) of the DBB , with a total of 20 former Oberliga teams in the two BBL seasons North (red) and South (blue).

The first game day of the newly founded basketball league was the weekend of October 1st / 2nd, 1966. VfL Osnabrück started their North Season with an away game at the Oldenburger Turnerbund in the "Haarenufer" sports hall, which was completely renovated in 1965, on October 2nd, 1966. at 11 o'clock. For the two Bundesliga clubs played:

• Oldenburger TB with Barkemeyer, Baumann, Grotelüschen, Hermann, Niedlich , Russel, Schnell, Seeberg, B. Südkamp and H. Südkamp.
• VfL Osnabrück with Böttger, Dieter, V. Gaber, Gröneweg, Homm, Husemann, Koppermann, H. Uhlig, Weinand and Yahya.

As in the following years, the players of the VfL team prepared for their first BBL season by taking part in international outdoor tournaments in the " wine festival region " of the Middle Rhine , in Koblenz and Linz , as part of the season preparations and playing against teams from the BBL-Staffel Süd, against first division teams from Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland as well as against high-performance US military selections.

New cup competitions

For the 1966/1967 season, FIBA ​​played the European Cup Winners' Cup for the first time. In principle, the national cup winners of the European basketball associations were eligible to participate. Eligibility were also those of the FIBA Europe reported by Associated associations participants, such as from the states of Israel and Syria . If no cup competitions were advertised and held in the FIBA ​​associations, it was usually possible to register the national vice-champions for the cup winners' competition. The VfL Osnabrück took 1967/1968 as part DBB Cup winners in 1967, after the DBB had first announced the Cup competition and performed. In the first round of the FIBA ​​Cup Winner Competition, 1966/1967, the DBB was represented by MTV Gießen , the national runner-up in 1966.

Team without a coach

In the three seasons from 1964 to 1967, the VfL team was always coached “from the playing field”. The responsibility for this lay with the experienced players. Klaus Weinand was considered the “boss” on the floor. VfL captain Helmut Uhlig assumed responsibility for the training. The oldest player in each of the VfL season teams, who joined VfL in 1966, was Rassem Yahya. The surgeon knew how to analyze game situations "razor-sharp" and to lead discussions on the critical points. The first central problem for VfL at the time was that the Bundesliga team always played extremely successfully in its league games without a trainer and coach. In the final round games for the DBB basketball championship, the decisive games for the DBB Cup and the finals played, as well as in the FIBA ​​European Cup competitions played up to then, it became clear again and again that sufficient competence and necessary experience were needed Line ”was missing. The second problem was that no suitable head coach was available or none was available for VfL in Germany. Especially since there were financial limits. VfL President "Friedel" Schwarze, as a " football manager " experienced in the first division , derived from the given situation from the start the need to hire a professional coach from abroad in order to be able to meet the stated objectives. The high demands placed on a trainer and coach resulted from the fact that the VfL season squad was always equipped with numerous national players and “strong personalities”, all of whom also pursued their ambitious professional goals with great concentration. The engagement of the Prague trainer and coach Miloslav Kříž - a former Czech first division player, experienced as a head coach for many years and successful in FIBA ​​competitions (at European and World Championships) - became possible because President Schwarze succeeded in working with the then DBB President Hans- Joachim Höfig to agree on a co-operative financing model in order to adequately remunerate the “work on the training floor” of the VfL head coach, who is the national coach of the men's national team. Kříž then knew how to properly set new stimuli for the players in the VfL squad during training. He confronted the VfL players with training methods that were successfully practiced in the basketball association of the then FIBA ​​Vice European Champion for men, the ČSSR, and repeatedly pushed them to the limits of their capabilities during training. He left the players, among other things, with the casualness and the demonstrated gentleness, always with a friendly smile on their faces, on command the "endless" stairs of the grandstand of the Osnabrück castle wall hall , for the VfL players the "grandstand of the Leiden ”, sprinting up again and again to strengthen your fitness for the crucial moments of the championship games. Kříž also understood it, after the departure of the "fast break players" Dieter, V. Gaber and Husemann as well as Forward Kollmann, for the championship season 1968/1969, five young players (Ansmann, Haferkamp, ​​Meyer, U. Renner, Rupp), four were still young players and all five without any first division practice, all in all “more length” came into the team through the additions, to be integrated into the VfL team straight away in such a way that the quality and impact of the game could be clearly improved.

Player changes not implemented

Before the start of the 1964/1965 season, VfL department head Klaus Manthey and team manager Werner Henke reported in the Osnabrück daily newspapers about the change of national player “Chap” Eggers from the upper division gymnastics and sports association of 1861 Göttingen  (TuSpo) to VfL. Likewise, before the final of the German basketball championship of the DBB (April 20, 1969 in Gießen ), national player Klaus Jungnickel, then Grünweiß Frankfurt , was transferred to VfL Osnabrück as player- coach (Miloslav Kříž was able to play as part of the preparation for the A- According to the agreement, the national team will only work as DBB national coach for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Kříž's successor at VfL was his compatriot Karel Baroch, ČSSR national and European selection player from Prague .) Reported in the daily press in Giessen and Osnabrück. Both of the proposed changes attracted nationwide attention among basketball athletes, but did not materialize, mainly due to the hasty publications.

Selection teams of the Bundeswehr and the General German University Sports Association (adh)

The Bundeswehr soldiers Garthaus (from 1962 VfL Oberligateam, then 1965 to 1970 Hannover 96 ) and Koppermann played in the selection of the Bundeswehr and took part in international invitation tournaments for military teams or in tournaments under the patronage of NATO , in and outside Europe . At that time under the sporting direction of Captain Eckhardt Schurkus, later promoted to colonel (Schurkus was a national team player of the DBB and during this period one of the top performers of the Bundesliga club Grünweiß Frankfurt .). Students from the group of DBB national players of the VfL were nominated by the General German University Sports Association and took part in the basketball competitions of the Universiade , the world sports games for students, which take place regularly every two years.

Medical care

The contact person for the VfL players in the event of a sports injury was the Osnabrück surgeon Karl Wefel, who was also the deputy of VfL President Schwarze (Vice President “Kalla” Wefel made an important contribution in 1965 as part of the commitment of Rassem Yahya He gave the VfL President Schwarze a hint about a vacant doctor's position in the general surgery department of the Osnabrück city hospital.). Otherwise, the VfL team was largely self-sufficient in terms of acute medical care, at least if the requirements were simple and could be dealt with in the dressing room, since several doctors and medical students were always among the Bundesliga players (to the "VfL master team") from 1969 belonged to four players who later practiced as specialists in private practice. The numerically largest group among the VfL Bundesliga players in terms of professional orientation were the students of economics and business administration .).

Announcement and responsibility for the DBB competitions

The basketball Bundesliga and DBB-Pokal competitions were announced by the German Basketball Association before the start of each season . The DBB was fully responsible for the implementation of the game operations of the respective competitions. Relay head of the North Relay of the Basketball Bundesliga was Bernd Janowsky from Cologne (Head of BBL South Staffel Dr. Burkhard Wildermuth, Heidelberg).

Referee and jury

In Osnabrück's Schloßwallhalle, the referees Anheuser (referee at the 1972 Olympic basketball tournament and former technical commissioner and "honorary referee for life" of FIBA), Bestgen (referee Olympic basketball tournament 1972), Drost (former member of the "Technical Commission of FIBA ​​Europe" ), Heinzelmann, Hüffmann (former DBB sports supervisor), Liebsch, May, Meyer, Nölle, Quäckber, Schmerwitz, Schober (referee Olympic basketball tournament 1968 ), Scholz, Siebrecht, Ströher (former DBB president, entrusted with various important FIBA ​​functions and member the "FIBA Hall of Fame candidate list" ), Zorn et cetera have been welcomed by the VfL captains over the years. The task of the licensed FIBA ​​and / or A referees of the DBB was to lead the “two-man team”, the league and cup games as well as the games in the finals of the German basketball championships. Jürgen Schimmöller (OSC) was the "boss" of the referee team at home games in the Schloßwallhalle for many years.

Media interest

The Osnabrück daily newspapers “NT”  (Neue Tagespost) , “OT”  (Osnabrücker Tageblatt) , after the merger in 1967 the “ NOZ ”  (Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung) and the local free press , as well as the North German Broadcasting (“NDR”) its radio and television programs as well as the second German television ("ZDF"), reported regularly and comprehensively on the games or the "top games" of the VfL teams. Constant editorial companions of the VfL teams in the period 1966 to 1970 were among others the sports journalist Ulli Hering from "NDR" ("Sportschau der Nordschau") and at games in North Rhine-Westphalia Dietmar Schott from "WDR" ( Westdeutscher Rundfunk ) , most recently " Sportchef “of the Cologne broadcasting corporation.

Audience interest

The games of the basketball players of VfL Osnabrück had a good "magnetic effect" in the direction of the sports-interested citizens in the Osnabrück region. Competitors in favor of the audience's interest were the second division footballers and the Bundesliga table tennis players of VfL, which included internationally successful national players of the German Table Tennis Association , Ernst Gomolla , Bernt Jansen and Hans Micheiloff . The average number of spectators at league and cup games of the VfL basketball team was around 800. In the finals of the German basketball championship and the games in the FIBA ​​European Cup, there were always 1,200 to 1,900 spectators in the Schloßwallhalle , at the championship final in 1968 there were more counted as 2,200 spectators. Up to 11,000 spectators came to the European Cup away games, which were always broadcast live on television. At regional sports press festivals, for example in 1970, the VfL basketball players played in front of around 12,000 spectators in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle and in front of around 21,000 spectators on the “ Bielefelder Alm ” in Bielefeld .

Inner German sports traffic

For the VfL basketball players, the internal German "sports traffic" was of little importance because it was only very limited, politically wanted by a majority (at the FIBA European Championship 1953 in Moscow an all-German team played with players from the DBB and from the GDR. ). Rolf Dieter and Klaus Weinand are the only two VfL Bundesliga players who played against a team from the GDR - in the 1960s the DBV national team played with outstanding "stars" such as Hans-Joachim Flau, Detlef Knoll, Herbert Kuhlig, Otfried Pleitz and Volkhard Uhlig  - could play. Weinand was initially on May 7 and 10, 1964, an intra-German comparison, two highly political games between the selection teams of the two German FIBA ​​associations in the qualification for the Olympic Summer Games 1964 , in Osnabrück and in Berlin (East) , in a DBB- Team without being able to qualify for the FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men 1964 in Geneva (Switzerland). Four years later, Weinand and Dieter, from May 25 to June 3, 1968, the two national players from Osnabrück took part in the FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Sofia ( Bulgaria ) . The game was played in Sofia to take part in the basketball tournament of the 1968 Summer Olympics . On June 1st there was an encounter with the GDR team in group B, which ended with a victory for the DBV players (81:45).

Trofeo del Sud - Coppa "Gianni Donativi" - August 31 to September 4, 1966 - Brindisi - Palazzetto CONI

Sports honor plaque of the city of Osnabrück in gold, awarded on January 16, 1970

Return to the international sports community

Basketball players from today's " Peace City Osnabrück " or the Osnabrücker Land, Rolf Dieter, Egon Homm, Günter Kollmann and Ingbert Koppermann, as well as from the circle of other VfL players, Helmut Uhlig and Klaus Weinand, belonged to the group in the 1960s German athletes who, in sporting competitions , especially in other European countries , met athletes whose countries and peoples had or had suffered extremely badly from the war that began on the German side in 1939 and the subsequent Reich German rule of the Nazi dictatorship and the SS terror whose parents, siblings, relatives, friends, etc. , were destroyed or murdered in German concentration camps . Encounters with foreign teams, for example against the national teams of the Soviet Union (in October 1963, FIBA European Championship 1963 in Wroclaw and in August / September 1966, Coppa "Gianni Donativi" of the Trofeo del Sud in the Palazzetto CONI in Brindisi ) or Israel (in April 1961 , FIBA European championship in 1961 in Belgrade , 1966 in Brindisi at the international tournament Coppa "Gianni Donativi" and in May 1969 qualification for the FIBA European championship 1969 in Saloniki), in addition to the sporting importance, had an outstanding political significance, after the international one in the 1950s for German athletes Sports traffic was subject to considerable reservations and severe restrictions. The encounters on the interpersonal level, which were connected with the international tournaments and games, also in the associated events of the supporting programs, made high demands on the attitudes and attitudes of all basketball players involved. Players from VfL Osnabrück , Volkmar Gaber, Egon Homm, Volker Mentgen and Klaus Weinand, took part in a week-long training camp for French and German national basketball players from August 20 to 27, 1964 in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg , initiated and directed by the two “head coaches” Robert Busnel (then “Directeur technique national” of the Fédération Française de Basketball ), who later became head coach of Real Madrid and president of FIBA, and Yakovos Bilek. The joint training camp was organized in the spirit of the Franco-German reconciliation pursued by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer after the Second World War and the Élysée Treaty concluded on January 22, 1963 (it was a project within the framework of Franco-German understanding that helped to shape the long-term positive relationships between people that both states, the former hereditary enemies , strived for.) These encounters were always accompanied by special emotions on the part of the players and coaches. In doing so, VfL Osnabrück athletes made their contribution to the normalization of people's encounters in Europe - after the World War II, which ended in 1945, in the “ Cold War ”, always across the national borders that were known as the “ Iron Curtain ” in Europe .

Honors

The players, coaches and supervisors of the VfL Osnabrück master team were always welcome guests at honors in the Osnabrück town hall or at the annual Osnabrück sports press ball. After the final successes, 1967 DBB Cup winner and 1969 German basketball champion of the DBB, the participating VfL Bundesliga basketball players were given a special honor by Mayor Wilhelm Kelch (1959 to 1972) in the peace hall of the Osnabrück town hall , “as a sign special recognition for outstanding sporting achievements ”, the gold medal awarded by the city of Osnabrück . As part of the award ceremony in 1967, the Osnabrück mayor stated that Mayor Kelch expressed his particular joy that "the VfLer were the first Osnabrück sports team to be authorized to participate in a European Cup competition". After the finals in 1968 and 1970, the successful VfL players were awarded the silver medal from the city of Osnabrück .

Golden era of Osnabrück sport - 1965 to 1970

As part of the reception - January 1970, in the Friedenssaal of the Osnabrück City Hall - for the athletes Osnabrück sports clubs who were successful in the competition of German sport in 1969, the Osnabrück Lord Mayor Kelch said in a conversation with the honored athletes, looking back on the past second half the decade of the 1960s that the basketball and table tennis players of VfL - with the Bundesliga players around Helmut Uhlig, Klaus Weinand and Rassem Yahya as well as Ernst Gomolla, Bernt Jansen and Hans Micheiloff - created a "golden era of Osnabrück sport" . Here brought SPD - politician William Kelch expressed the hope that the successor to VfL president "Friedel" Black - Steel Contractors Black was in July 1969 on the Heger cemetery in Osnabruck, accompanied by a large mourners buried (The in Patrons who always appear to the public with great reluctance, as a busy entrepreneur always keeping a distance to the top athletes of VfL in training and games, had the victory of the VfL basketball players in the championship final of the DBB on April 20, 1969, in Giessen the MTV, accompanied by his family.) - would succeed in developing the necessary framework conditions so that both VfL Bundesliga teams could stay “on the road to success” in the long term .

DBB competitions / results / teams / trainers

Oberliga Nord

In the 1964/1965 season, the VfL players were able to prevail in the first-class Oberliga Nord and qualify for the finals for the German basketball championship. The VfL team made it into the DBB final. The opponent was MTV Gießen , who had prevailed against the German champions of the two previous seasons, Alemannia Aachen , in two furious games with clear results. The game was played on May 23, 1965 in the high school sports hall in Heidelberg, in front of about 1,500 spectators. The VfL lost the game for the championship shield of the DBB (It was awarded at the end of each first division season to the men's champions from 1957 to 2010), with a single point. The runner-up championship of the German Basketball Federation in 1965 was “won” .

VfL final team 1965: Eckhard von Bock, Wilfried Böttger, Rolf Dieter, Hans-Jürgen Gaber, Volkmar Gaber, Peter Garthaus, Volker Jarré, Ingbert Koppermann, Raul Russel, Helmut Uhlig and Klaus Weinand.

Bundesliga

1966/1967 season : German runner-up in 1967 VfL Osnabrück - MTV Giessen 73:85 (29:37) April 30, 1967, "Carl-Diem-Halle" in Mannheim VfL jersey red / yellow (The red jersey was a VfL reserve jersey, after the jersey selection was lost.) around 1,600 spectators VfL Osnabrück: Wilfried "Wiwi" Böttger, Rolf Dieter, Volkmar Gaber, Hans "Hansi" Gröneweg, Egon Homm, Eckhard "Ecki" Husemann, Ingbert "Koppi" Koppermann, Wolfgang Plock, Helmut Uhlig, Klaus Weinand, Rassem Yahya - supervisor Rolf "Rolli" Henke MTV Gießen: Wolfgang Dort, Holger Geschwindner , Jochen Glock, Gerhard Heindel, Rainer Jörg, Klaus Jungnickel , Dietfried Kienast , Bernd Röder , Heinz Ross, Jochen Wucherer - trainer and coach Laszlo Lakfalvi - manager Heinz-Ewald Hirsch Referees: Bestgen ( Hagen ) and Heinzelmann ( Mainz ) 1967/1968 season : German runner-up in 1968 VfL Osnabrück - MTV Giessen 69:79 (36:35) April 28, 1968, "Schlosswall-Halle" in Osnabrück VfL jersey yellow / yellow around 2,200 spectators VfL Osnabrück: Wilfried Böttger, Rolf Dieter, Volkmar Gaber, Egon Homm, Eckhard Husemann, Günter Kollmann, Ingbert Koppermann, Helmut Uhlig, Klaus Weinand, Rassem Yahya - trainer and coach Miloslav Kříž - supervisor Rolf Henke MTV Gießen: Karl Ampt, Jörg Bernath, Wolfgang Dort, Holger Geschwindner, Jochen Glock, Lu Jackson  (USA) , Klaus Jungnickel, Dietfried Kienast, Bernd Röder, Heinz Ross, Franz-Josef Wolf and Hubert Wolf - trainer and coach Laszlo Lakfalvi - Manager Heinz-Ewald Hirsch Referees: Bestgen (Hagen) and Heinzelmann (Mainz) Weinand Koppermann Böttger Yahya Uhlig "Starting Five" VfL Osnabrück DM final against MTV Gießen on April 20, 1969 in Gießen 1968/1969 season : German champion 1969 MTV Giessen - VfL Osnabrück 69:76 (30:30) April 20, 1969, University Sports Hall in Giessen VfL jersey yellow / yellow around 2,000 spectators VfL Osnabrück: Klaus "Anse" Ansmann, Wilfried Böttger, Michael Haferkamp, Egon Homm , Ingbert Koppermann , Eckhard "Ecki" Meyer, Ulrich "Uli" Renner, Harald "Harry" Rupp , Helmut Uhlig , Klaus Weinand , Rassem Yahya  - coach and Coach Miloslav Kříž  - supervisor Rolf Henke MTV Gießen: Karl Ampt, Janos Belik  ( Hungary ) , Jörg Bernath, Wolfgang Dort, Holger Geschwindner, Hans Heß, Dietfried Kienast, William Provinse  (USA) , Bernd Röder, Dieter Strack, Franz-Josef Wolf and Hubert Wolf - trainers and coaches Laszlo Lakfalvi - Manager Heinz-Ewald Hirsch Referees: Drost ( Dortmund ) and Liebsch (Heidelberg)

DBB Cup

1966/1967 season: 1967 DBB Cup winner VfL Osnabrück - ATV  Düsseldorf 86:74 (39:35) June 11, 1967, “Sporthalle Goebenstrasse” in Oberhausen VfL jersey black / yellow around 1,200 spectators VfL Osnabrück: Wilfried Böttger, Rolf Dieter, Volkmar Gaber, Egon Homm, Eckhard Husemann, Ingbert Koppermann, Helmut Uhlig, Klaus Weinand, Rassem Yahya - supervisor Rolf Henke (The squad also included Hans Gröneweg and Wolfgang Plock.) ATV Düsseldorf: Wilhelm Angermann, Georg Belker, Eckart Berk, Hans Peter Breuer, Richard Griese, Dehler, Ulli Herbst, Hans Peter Hötte, Axel Kiesling, Lamprecht, Harald Manteuffel, Peter Zimmermann  (USA) Referees: Liebsch (Heidelberg) and Schober (Mainz) 1968/1969 season: Vice-Cup winner 1969 VfL Osnabrück - MTV Giessen 74:75 (38:40) June 15, 1969, " Alsterdorfer Sporthalle " in Hamburg VfL jersey yellow / yellow around 1,300 spectators VfL Osnabrück: Klaus Ansmann, Wilfried Böttger, Michael Haferkamp, ​​Egon Homm, Ingbert Koppermann, Eckhard Meyer, Ulrich Renner, Harald Rupp, Helmut Uhlig, Klaus Weinand, Rassem Yahya - trainer and coach Miloslav Kříž - supervisor Rolf Henke MTV Gießen: Karl Ampt, Janos Belik  (Hungary) , Jörg Bernath, Wolfgang Dort, Holger Geschwindner, Hans Heß, Dietfried Kienast, William Provinse  (USA) , Bernd Röder, Dieter Strack, Klaus Urmitzer and Franz-Josef Wolf - trainers and coaches Laszlo Lakfalvi - Manager Heinz-Ewald Hirsch Season 1969/1970 : Vice-Cup winner 1970 VfL Osnabrück - TuS 04 Leverkusen 49:73 June 6, 1970, sports hall “Am Hasenwinkel” in Braunschweig VfL jersey yellow / yellow around 1,500 spectators VfL Osnabrück: Klaus Ansmann, Karel Baroch ( ČSSR ), Wilfried Böttger, Egon Homm, Günter Kollmann, Ingbert Koppermann, Eckhard Meyer, Ulrich Renner, Harald Rupp, Klaus Weinand, Rassem Yahya - player trainer and coach Karel Baroch - supervisor Rolf Henke TuS 04 Leverkusen: Wilhelm Angermann, Wolfgang Bunse, Götz Grabner, Klaus Greulich, Dieter Kuprella , Jochen Pollex , Helmut "Flatti" Posern, Dan Puscasiu  ( Romania ) , Heinz Schäfer, Wolfgang Schmidt, Norbert Thimm , Largo Wandel  - trainer and coach Günter Hagedorn  - Manager Engelbert Zimmer

“Unforgettable” defeats

After VfL was the defeated finalist of the game for the German basketball championship at the end of the league season and the subsequent finals in 1964/1965 (see also the transcript of a radio report by ARD reporter Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach: The last twenty seconds of a “classic "Of German basketball. ), The VfL team was unable to make it into the final of the DBB championship again in the following season, although" started "as one of the" favorites "in the season. Then, from 1966 to 1970, in four Bundesliga seasons, the VfL Bundesliga teams managed to play six of a possible eight successive "big finals" of the DBB (championship and cup) and to win twice. The constant opponent of the VfL Bundesliga players in this phase, the extremely successful basketball players from MTV Gießen , played five times in one of the DBB's “big finals” with three final wins in the direct comparison period. The "period of success" of MTV Gießen in the 1960s, on the other hand, began earlier, with the 1964/1965 season, with a championship title (Basketball has been played in Gießen since 1937. In 1939, the MTV men's basketball team qualified for a final round for the first time for the German championship. In 1948 the MTV became Hessen champion.). This was followed by seven out of ten possible consecutive finals for MTV in these six seasons, with three championship titles and one cup victory. The MTV players played five times against their teammates from VfL Osnabrück . The Bundesliga clubs MTV Giessen and VfL Osnabrück were the dominant men's teams at the top level of the DBB in the second half of the 1960s, with MTV in the five "big finals" played against VfL with a total of seventeen points, as a result of the Comparison of the total of the points scored by the two teams against each other, who had “the nose ahead” (VfL captain Uhlig scored two of the seventeen points at the beginning of the second half of the game in the final of the German basketball championship on April 28, 1968 in Osnabrück , with a one-point lead of the VfL team of 36:35. After the jump ball , the ball came straight to Uhlig, who was positioned as the “last man” of the VfL team. The VfL captain quickly grabbed from the captured “ Guard position "on the center circle" soloed " his team's basket with a lay-up head-on and achieved an" own basket "without hindrance, which put the MTV team in the lead with one point.).

What the two “big teams” have in common is that they lost their finals at the end of the 1969/1970 season against TuS 04 Leverkusen (MTV for the championship, VfL for the DBB Cup). Only the MTV Giessen managed to build on the "period of success" of the 1960s in 1972 and played again in April against TuS 04 Leverkusen , with a return match, for the DBB championship shield . The VfL Osnabrück team in 1975 belonged to the former presidents and supporters of basketball and table tennis at VfL, from 1951 first to "Friedel" Schwarze and from 1969 to 1971 then to Eduard Piepenbrock, like Schwarze, who was also a sports enthusiast, from the Osnabrück region Successful medium-sized entrepreneurs in Osnabrück with “down-to-earth” close ties had died in the meantime - then not among the ten founding members of the newly structured one-tier top division of the DBB, the 1st basketball league.

Other finalists in the period since the beginning of the BBL in 1966 to 1970, in addition to the basketball players from Gießen and Osnabrück, were USC Heidelberg (German champion 1966) and TuS 04 Leverkusen (German champion and DBB cup winner in 1970) and others Cup finals in 1967 of ATV Düsseldorf (1956 German basketball champion of the DBB), 1968 of FC Bayern Munich (DBB cup winner and 1954 and 1955 German basketball champions of the DBB) and MTV Wolfenbüttel . During this period there was only one final, the 1968 DBB Cup, in which MTV Gießen and / or VfL Osnabrück were not involved. The fans of VfL Osnabrück at the time particularly regretted the fact that at the end of the very successful league season 1965/1966 there was an “out” in the quarter-finals of the 1966 German championship.

The former DBB men's national coach Yakovos Bilek has before the final of the German Basketball Championship in Mannheim, on the way into the final hall, in front of a reporter sybillinisch remarked: "Those who make it to the finals, can not lose." For the In the years from 1966 to 1970 participating VfL Bundesliga players there are, in the sense of the "basketball philosopher" Yakovos Bilek, only three experienced really "important defeats ":

"Out" in the quarter-finals of the German championship in 1966

In the quarter-finals of the German basketball championship of the DBB, VfL Osnabrück failed at the then "record champions" USC Heidelberg . The VfL team, with the former USC players Weinand and Yahya (The two players, then USC Heidelberg, had a total of 48 points in the 1962 final for the DBB championship shield, final score 69:65, in Wiesbaden , in the game against Alemannia Aachen for the final winner from the Electoral Palatinate .), won his home game on the last day of April in 1966 with just one point (86:85). The away game in Heidelberg on May 7, 1966, was then lost with a difference of twenty-one points (90:69). The USC, with the "old international" Kurt Siebenhaar as head coach on the line and accompanied by team manager "Pulver"  (Walter Kaiser) , impressed with its experienced national players Volker Heindel , Jürgen Langhoff , Hans "Lambi" Leciejewski , Jürgen " Jo "Loibl , Hannes Neumann , Christoph Staiger and Klaus" Pollo "Urmitzer . Decisive for the futile struggle to win the two important finals was not the good form and the routine game of the internationally experienced "Altstadtsumen". The decisive factor was the extremely strong game by Eddy Johnson, a newcomer to the USC, who was used for the Heidelberg club from January to early June 1966. Heidelberg basketball players were Johnson at the DBB four-country tournament in Bremen in early December 1965, with Denmark and Sweden (There was a cancellation of the Polish national team , which could be replaced by the "Celtics" at short notice), when Johnson was noticed during the well-filled international Tournament in all games as one of the strongest players of the "Celtics", a selection of the US armed forces in Europe ( EUCOM ) , convinced. Against VfL, "Matchwinner" Eddy Johnson scored a total of 54 points in both games. The athletic US player, who despite a constant handicap from a stabilizing knee brace, mastered the "high art of playing" and especially all throwing variants of the basket attack very convincingly and with great confidence. Johnson's throws were hard to defend. The power forward came in the seven final round games (including the championship finals) to a total of 189 points (an average of twenty-seven points / game) and secured the seventh DBB championship for USC Heidelberg (USC guards Volker Heindel and Hannes Neumann were in seven DBB championships of the Heidelberger, involved as a player since 1957.).

Semifinals DBB Cup 1968 without the favorites

At the end of the 1967/1968 season, the VfL Bundesliga team, as a cup defender and with the reigning champion MTV Gießen Favorit, was defeated in the quarter-finals of the DBB Cup by the players of Bayern Munich . The Bundesliga team of FC Bayern, around seventy times DBB national player Klaus Schulz , three times participant in FIBA European Championships , could just win their home game (75:72), although the " Hasestädter ", who previously had an unusually long journey over a distance of 640 kilometers had brought behind them, against the " Isarstädter " had initially taken the lead with 18:10. The Bundesliga basketball players of FC Bayern qualified for the semifinals with this victory, then won 74:68 against SSV Hagen and won the cup final 59:55 against MTV Wolfenbüttel (the reigning basketball champion MTV Giessen suffered in Frankfurt against the semifinal participant Grünweiß Frankfurt a defeat with 77:62.). Forward Klaus Schulz, former teammate of H. Uhlig and Weinand at the two-time German basketball champions Alemannia Aachen ( 1963 and 1964 ), was a national player whom the then reigning VfL President "Friedel" Schwarze liked for the club he ran in 1964 Would have gained reinforcements. The law student, however, switched to the traditional Madrid first division club Baloncesto Estudiantes and played in the professional Spanish league Española de Baloncesto (since 1983 Liga ACB , since 2011 also "Liga Endesa " ).

1969/1970 without success in the championship finals

The final round of the 1970 German basketball championship was played for the first time in two groups, each with four Bundesliga clubs. The first placed in Group A and Group B reached the final in Dillingen an der Saar . Group A, in which the VfL team played, was behind the first and third of the Bundesliga season south, MTV Gießen and USC Mainz , as well as with the second and fourth of the season north, VfL Osnabrück (for the first time in second place in the final table, behind the “newcomer” TuS 04 Leverkusen ) and ASV Köln . MTV Giessen was first in the table in Group A with 10: 2 points, with only one defeat in Mainz (87:84) . The VfL players could not prevail in this group because they could not win two home games, 87:84 (40:36) against USC Mainz and 83:88 (40:46) against MTV Gießen . In the home defeat by USC Mainz played a role that the Mainzer, which played in that time, the former VfL Bundesliga Player V. Gaber and Husemannstraße, with the 2.08-meter center of the DBB team Dietrich "Didi" Keller at Rebound were superior and with the US player Shannon, as a soldier ( GI ) a member of the US armed forces in Germany, had a player of the "extra class", against whose basket attacks the VfL players never found an antidote. Before the game against USC Mainz, the VfL players did not pay enough attention to the fact that MTV Gießen could not win their first game, away against USC Mainz , and that US player Shannon, who was also the "match winner" in this game, received forty-one points scored. The first in Group A, MTV Gießen , was able to reach the runner-up championship again at the end of the 1969/1970 season against TuS 04 Leverkusen (73:76).

Team development and service providers

In all successes of the "legendary" Bundesliga teams of VfL Osnabrück (1966 to 1970) one has always been core team of five players involved: the multiple A-National player Klaus Weinand (2.00 m) consisting of Palestine originating Syrian national team Rassem Yahya ( 1.77 m), Wilfried Böttger (1.95 m, selected player of the North Rhine-Westphalian West German basketball association , training club was Eintracht Dortmund ), who died in Madrid / Spain in the 1980s, and the two national players from their own youth, Ingbert Koppermann (1.99 m) and Egon Homm (1.96 m), who started straight away in the “new Bundesliga” in 1966 as a “youngster”. Egon Homm is the only one of these five players who was born in Osnabrück.

Klaus Weinand, 1972 member of the DBB Olympic team Munich, was a participant of the FIBA ​​European Championships 1961 in Belgrade ( Republic of Serbia , then Yugoslavia ), appointed by DBB national trainer Branimir Volfer, and the 14th FIBA ​​European Championships 1965 in Moscow (then Soviet Union, now Russia ) with national coach Yakovos Bilek. Helmut Uhlig and Egon Homm as well as Miloslav Kříž as national coach tried in vain with the German national team in Thessaloniki ( Greece ) in a major FIBA ​​tournament with leading European basketball nations to qualify for the 16th FIBA ​​European Championships in 1969, in September and October 1969 , with twelve participating nations, in Genoa  ( Italy ). The captain of VfLer, Helmut Uhlig from Halle (Saale) , he was in 1971, as in 1963 as a national player of the DBV in the European championship team in 1963, participant in the 17th FIBA ​​European championships in 1971 in Essen and Böblingen, was also a member of the Munich Olympic team 1972, appointed to the national team for both tournaments by national coach Theodor Schober. In the 1969/1970 and 1970/1971 seasons, the 1969/1971 German sports journalists named the "Basketballer of the Year" (Holger Geschwindner came in second) for the USC Munich, who was "with a view" of the 1972 Summer Olympics in the The Bavarian state capital was temporarily provided with substantial financial resources.

The master team was valued as an important representative of the city of Osnabrück. The VfL players represented the club, the city and the entire region of the Osnabrück region in Western European countries and also in Eastern Europe  - for example at many international tournaments and at friendly matches. In 1966, the VfL Bundesliga players won the " International Basketball Tournament " organized by the US armed forces in Bremerhaven every year at the turn of the year (only two club teams, ZSKA Moscow and VfL Osnabrück , were able to compete in 18 tournaments against strong competition from US military teams and National teams, enter in the list of winners. The senior national team of the DBB won the final of the cup in 1969 and 1980.). The VfL master team took part three times in international FIBA ​​competitions of the European top clubs, the European Cup of National Champions and the European Cup of National Cup Winners, playing against Solna IF from Stockholm , Slavia Prague , Honvéd Budapest and Panathinaikos Athens , among others .

VfL team jerseys

Before the beginning of the major league season 1964/1965, the VfL players had decided on the jersey colors yellow and black, in contrast to the traditional club colors purple / white. There were twelve yellow and black sleeveless jerseys with the center print “VFL” on the front, below the number, and on the back the big player number (from “4” to “15”). The jerseys were set off with contrasting stripes in black or yellow - on both sides of the shoulder straps and the yellow trousers at the bottom of the trouser leg. The rather tight and short cut trousers also had a vertical black stripe on both sides. You could play in the color combinations yellow / yellow and black / yellow. In the BBL announcement, the clubs were not required to specify color combinations for home and away match shirts. The VfL team preferred to play in yellow if possible. The color of the tracksuits produced in the former GDR were red, all with a small VfL emblem on the left side of the chest . A company logo or other advertising was never displayed on the shirts and tracksuits of the VfL players . Was played basically in white Chuck Taylor All-Stars or two players (Homm, Koppermann) in low-cut All Star Oxford cut (flat basketball shoes were because of the danger of lodging of the ankle , resulting in a violation of the ligaments , by very few Bundesliga Worn by top players.).

“Victory and defeat”, usually with players, coaches and supervisors of the opposing team, were celebrated after home games in the traditional Osnabrück pub Grüner Jäger , not far from the Schloßwallhalle.

In the four finals, which were played by the Bundesliga club MTV Gießen and VfL Osnabrück , Holger Geschwindner, the discoverer and mentor of the NBA - "Superstar" Dirk Nowitzki , together with the national players and top performers Wolfgang Dort, Dietfried Kienast and Bernd Röder, to the four final teams of MTV, the head coach of the Hungarian-born successful coach Lazlo Lakfalvi, then with always the center of life in Darmstadt was.

At the beginning of the seventies, the successful series of VfL basketball players could not be continued. The then president of VfL Osnabrück , building cleaning entrepreneur and CDU politician, particularly active in the CDU Economic Council , Hartwig Piepenbrock , who succeeded the VfL presidency after the accident-related death of his father Eduard Piepenbrock in 1971 in 1975, the decision - without opposition from circles of politics, economy and culture in Osnabruck, without any critical assessment of this decision in the local press or any public address by the Bureau or by the management of Osnabrück IHK ( chamber of Commerce ), which the The loss of one of the few "figureheads" of the city of Osnabrück resulted in concentrating all of the club's resources on the development of the then second-rate football team, but without any particular success in the following presidency periods of Hartwig Piepenbrock, until 1996, and successor Dirk Rasch, until 2012 (Both Honorary Pres idents led the association to the brink of economic ruin , without having initiated measures to secure its livelihood or restructuring before leaving office .) In 1975, after the subsequent sporting descent from the basketball league, the basketball department entered a syndicate with Osnabrücker SC under the name BG Osnabrück , with the aim of not losing the Bundesliga license. The withdrawal from the BBL, forced by the “football president” Hartwig Piepenbrock, was understood by the citizens of Osnabrück as an internal “defeat” and a great loss for the city.

Günter Kollmann, who as A-youth player of TSV Quakenbrück , among others, together with Egon Homm, in the summer of 1966 with the national team of Lower Saxony Basketball Association German Youth Cup of selected teams of DBB-state associations in the final in Osnabrück (Schloßwall Hall) against Hesse  (68 : 61) won, played in the 1967/1968 and 1969/1970 seasons for VfL Osnabrück in the Bundesliga and in the FIBA ​​European Cup. As an entrepreneur in the textile industry , the former B national player, always supported by his wife, has been the "visionary sponsor" of the BBL team Artland Dragons , emerged from the basketball department of TSV Quakenbrück  (QTSV), and the decisive founder of the extremely large Enthusiasm for basketball and the associated youth work in the city of Quakenbrück .

National players from their own youth

From the group of VfL Bundesliga players, the following players, who came from VfL's own youth team, played in the senior national team of the DBB: Rolf Dieter (no longer playing for VfL after the end of the 1967/1968 season. In May and June 1968 in Sofia / Bulgaria FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men , 1969 qualification for the 16th FIBA ​​European Championships 1969 in Saloniki / Greece and 1971 17th FIBA ​​European Championships 1971 in Boeblingen and Essen.), Egon Homm (1969 qualification for the 16th FIBA ​​European Championships 1969 in Saloniki / Greece.), Ingbert Koppermann (later BC Giants and Hannover 96 ), Eckhard Meyer (later BC Giants ) and Harald Rupp (since 1973 USC Heidelberg , including 1973 and 1975 EM Challenge Round of FIBA.).

Opponent teams and sports comrades in the Bundesliga

Participation in European Cup competitions

FIBA Secretary General R. William Jones appointed a FIBA ​​project commission in 1957, whose members included Robert Busnel ( France ), Miloslav Kříž (Czechoslovakia), Raimundo Saporta (Spain), Nikolai Semashko ( USSR ) and Borislav Stanković (Yugoslavia). The five personalities of European basketball sport were given the task of developing a concept that proposed the establishment of a competition for the championship teams of the FIBA ​​associations at European level. The commission was headed by Raimundo Saporta. The decisive meeting of the appointed FIBA ​​commission took place in December 1957 in Gauting , in the Upper Bavarian district of Starnberg . On February 22, 1958, the first European championship match between Royal IV CS  Anderlechtois ( Belgium ) and BBC Etzella ( Luxembourg ) was played. Twenty-two clubs took part in FIBA's first ever European Cup. The later coach of VfL Osnabrück , the doctorate in law Miloslav Kříž, was during the concept development "Member of the Organizing Committee of the European zone of FIBA" (In June 2010 the Czech was awarded the FIBA Order of Merit ). In 1967 FIBA ​​established the European Cup Winners' Cup. The first day of this FIBA ​​competition for the national cup winners, with 19 teams, was December 8, 1966.

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup 1967/1968

Twenty-two teams, basically the registered national cup winners of the European FIBA ​​member associations as well as the cup defenders of the previous year, played the overall winner of the FIBA ​​European Cup at the end of 1967 and in the first quarter of 1968 in a first and a second leg, organized as a " knock-out round " the cup winner out. According to the regulations , the overall result of the two games decided whether or not to reach the next cup round.

The finale took place on April 4, 1968 in "Kallimarmaro", a building from ancient times , in Athens, in front of around 80,000 spectators. Finalists were AEK Athens and Slavia Prague (The Prague players had qualified in the semi-finals against the cup winners of the former GDR, ASK Vorwärts Leipzig , with two wins - 57:58 and 76:98 - for the European Cup final in Athens.). AEK won the highly dramatic final 89:82 (47:38). The team of the finalist Slavia Prague included Karel Baroch, later, from 1969 to 1970, player-coach at VfL Osnabrück (The Prague "playmaker", more than 160 international matches for the ČSSR, three appointments to the FIBA ​​European team, Wolfgang Kosel , an Osnabrück businessman, won for the VfL team in Prague. The qualified sports teacher Baroch worked as a sports teacher at the Ratsgymnasium during his time in Osnabrück.). Baroch scored twelve points in the final of the "FIBA Cup Winner's Cup 1967/1968". In 1969, the players around Jiří Zedníček and Jiří Zídek Sr., with "playmaker" Baroch, reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup again and became the 1969 European Cup winners in Vienna ( Austria ) against BK Dinamo Tiflis  (then USSR, 80:74) Politically highly regarded defeat of the Soviet cup winner from Georgia in the context of the Prague Spring .

The VfL Osnabrück master team reached the round of 16 in this FIBA ​​Cup competition, 1967/1968, in which the team from Osnabrück and the two subsequent finalists from Athens and Prague were represented: Hapoel Tel Aviv BC  (ISR), Royal IV SC Anderlecht Bruxelles  (BEL), CS Dinamo Bucuresti  (ROM), ASK Olimpija Ljubljana  (then YUG), SD Kas Vitoria  (SPA), Fenerbahce SK Istanbul ( TUR ), ASVEL Basket Villeurbanne ( FRA ), ASK Vorwärts Leipzig  (GDR), GTS Wisła Kraków  (POL), Union Firestone Ehgartner Wien  (AUT) and BK Spartak Sofija ( BUL ) as well as the Italian club Ignis Pallacanestro Varese , who qualified for the quarter-finals as last year's cup defender .

The European Cup matches for the Cup Winners' Cup of the VfL championship team in Osnabrück, City of Peace in the 1967/1968 season:

• First Round: Solna IF Stockholm (SWE) - VfL Osnabrück ( FRG )

• on November 23, 1967 in Stockholm 60:55 (27:25)
• Second leg on November 30, 1967 in Osnabrück (Schloßwallhalle) 85:60 (35:29)

The 1967 cup winner of the Swedish Basketball Association played in the European Cup competition with twelve players:

Tommy Dackheim, Mats Engwall, Lars Ericson, Jan Hjort  (EC participant 1969) , Vladimir Jeosimic, Lar Kabing, Per-Olof Lefwerth  (EM 65 and 69) , Jonas Schill, Allan Svärd, Rolf Svärd, Lars Olof Svensson and Hans Waldenstedt . - Head coach Boris Nyman.

• 1/8 Final: VfL Osnabrück (FRG) - TJ Slavia VS Praha (CZE)

• on January 13, 1968 in Osnabrück (Schloßwallhalle) 77:88 (39:41)
• Second leg on January 18, 1968 in Prague 90:51 (41:29)

For European Cup squad by head coach Jaroslav Šíp (previously coach of Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna ), who as a player in the 1950 / 1960s at five FIBA European Championship (EM  51 -61) and the basketball tournament of the Summer Olympic Games in 1952 took part - in Osnabrück was the Prague Team coached by coach Jiří Baumruk (EM 51-61, MVP  EM 57 ) - the players included:

Jiří Ammer (EM 65-69 and WM 70 ) , Karel Baroch (EM 65-71) , Jiří Konopásek (EM 69-71, EM 77 , OSS 72 and 76 , WM 70) , Jaroslav Kovař, Jaroslav Křivý ( EM 59 ) , Jiří Lízálek, Robert Mifka (EM 63-71 and WM 70) , Jiří Růžička (EM 63-71, OSS 72 and WM 70) , Jiří Šťastný (EM 59 and EM 65) , Bohumil Tomášek (EM 59-67 and OSS 60 ) , Jiri Zedníček (EM 65-73, OSS 72, WM 70, and 74, MVP EM 67) , Jiri Zídek Sr. (EM 63- 73 , OSS 72, WM 70, and 74 ) and Jiri Lízálek.

Seven of the Slavia players had played the FIBA European Championship 1967 in Helsinki in September and October 1967 and took second place with their national team (final USSR  - ČSSR 89:77).

In the first leg in Osnabrück, the Slavia team, then four-time champion of the ČSSR , were missing the two European selection players Karel Baroch and Jiří Zedníček and national player Robert Mifka. During the second leg in Prague, VfL Wilfried Böttger, Günter Kollmann and Helmut Uhlig were not available (Uhlig was not allowed to play in Prague because in January 1968 there was no guarantee from the ČSSR government or the FIBA ​​that the former GDR would leave the country. national team member would have ensured from Czechoslovakia without any restriction. in November 1968 could travel H. Uhlig the European game to Budapest (Hungary), because in the meantime "inner German" agreements had been made, the GDR refugees travel to countries of the Warsaw Pact , with no apparent exit risk , made possible.). Reaching the round of 16 meant that VfL Osnabrück's basketball players were among the last 16 teams in this FIBA ​​European Cup competition. A result that was recognized throughout Europe - especially because of the good game of the VfL team in Osnabrück.

FIBA European Champion Clubs' Cup 1969/1970

The first round of the European Cup of National Champions 1969/70 was played as a "knock-out round", home and away games. In the quarter-finals, the eight qualified club teams played in two groups. Each team played in its group against the three other teams in its own group. The first two teams in the two groups qualified for the semi-finals to determine the finalists in 1971.

Honvéd

The European Cup games, for the cup of national champions, of the VfL championship team of Osnabrück:

• VfL Osnabrück (FRG) - Budapisti Honvéd SE (HUN)

• on November 6, 1969 in Osnabrück (Schloßwallhalle) 74:88 (35:42)
• Second leg on November 13, 1969 in Budapest 92:59 (48:32)

Budapisti Honvéd SE's squad , with coach Jósef Balogh, included seven Hungarian national players, six of whom had previously played for Hungary in Italy from September 27 to October 5, 1969, in the finals of the 1969 FIBA ​​European Championship (EM) and in one Participation of twelve national teams reached eighth place with their team:

István Bánhegyi (EM 69) , Valér Banna (EM 61, EM 65, EM 67 and EM 69) , Sándor Gellér (EM 69) , Géza Gylai (EM 61) , István Gyurasits (EM 69) , Szalbocs Hódy (EM 69) , Ödön Lendvay (EM 65, EM 67 and EM 69 as well as OSS 64 )

The club team from Budapest was eliminated in the next round, in the round of 16, against Real Madrid CF  (SPA) (96:76). Real Madrid lost in the semi-finals to Ignis Pallacanestro Varese  (ITA), as did Slavia Prague to defending champions CSKA Moskva  (USSR). On April 9, 1970 Ignis Varese won against the defending champion from Moscow in the final of the European Cup, in Sarajevo  (79:74) in front of more than 6,500 spectators.

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup 1970/1971

Twenty-two cup winners of the FIBA ​​member associations played “knock-out rounds” in the 1970/71 European Cup Winners' Cup, in return matches. The overall result decided whether or not to advance to the next round of the competition. The defending champion made his first game in the quarterfinals. The final was played both at home and away in 1971.

Κ.Α.Ε.Π.Α.Ο.

The players of VfL Osnabrück qualified as finalists in the final for the DBB Cup 1970, which was won by TuS 04 Leverkusen , the 1970 German basketball champions.

• Panathinaikós AO Athína  (GRE) - VfL Osnabrück (FRG)

• on December 3, 1970 in Osnabrück (Schloßwallhalle) 89:52 (38:22)
• Second leg on December 10, 1970 in Athens' Panathinaiko Stadium , also known as " Kallimarmaro "

(the Olympic Stadium of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896) - 73:89 (36:36)

Panathinaiko Stadium: " Kallimarmaro "

The Greek cup winner , head coach at that time was the former Greek national player Konstantinos Mourouzis, played in this FIBA ​​competition with four top players in European basketball:

Dimitrios Kokolakis  (2.15 m, center, born 1949 - PAO 1969 to 1983 - 178  international matches  - participant in FIBA ​​EM  1975 , 1979 , 1981 and 1983 ) Georgios Kolokithas  (2.00 m, Power Forward, born 1945 - PAO 1966 to 1972 - 90 international matches - FIBA ​​European Championship participant 1965, 1967 and 1969 - Top Scorer FIBA ​​European Championship 1967 and 1969 )

Apostolos Kontos (Small Forward, born 1947 - PAO 1969 to 1984 - 114 international matches - FIBA ​​European Championship participant 1973 and 1975) Panagiotis "Takis" Koroneos (Small Forward, born 1952 - PAO 1968 to 1985 - 151 international matches - FIBA ​​European Championship participant 1975, 1979 and 1981)

Also represented in the FIBA ​​competition was the Dutch cup winner of 1970, Flamingo's Haarlem  ( NED ), from the twin city of the peace city Osnabrück, who  also failed to qualify for the round of 16 against TJ Dukla Olomouc (CZE) in the "First Round". The final was won by Simmenthal Olimpia Milan : BK Spartak Leningrad  (USSR) - Simmenthal Olimpia Milano (ITA) 66:56 and in the second leg in Milan 71:52. VfL's opponent, Panathinaikos Athens , was eliminated in the round of 16 against Hapoel Tel Aviv  BC  (ISR).

Player of the season squad 1958 to 1971

Oberliga Nord

(until 1966 highest league of the DBB)

Heinrich "Heini" bear Werner Bergmann Eckhard "Ecki" from Bock and Polach Werner Brandes Uwe "Ellern" sword Lothar Ellinghaus Karl "Kalli" Finke Peter Franke Hans-Jürgen "Hansi" Gaber Helmut Gerhardus Ertan Gönen ( Turkey ) Wolfgang “wool” hair Rolf "Rolli" Henke Volker Jarré Kurt Kaschke

Uli Koch ( Backgammon Vice World Champion 1984) Winfried Kunz Klaus Manthey Jürgen Molitor Mico Orlovic ( Yugoslavia ) Jörg Reinhardt Jimmy Rogers (GB / Jamaica ) Raul Russel ( Spain ) Hermann Sohl Karl-Heinz "Kiddel" Spreckelmeyer Wolfgang "Struppi" Struif Fritz Trillhaas Lothar Waldowski Wolfgang "Wool" Wanzl Friedhelm Zöllner

Note: Players in italics come from the VfL youth team (19 of 30) .

Basketball Bundesliga

Klaus Ansmann ( 1.98 m / center ) Karel Baroch (1.82 m / Point Guard / ČSSR ) Wilfried Böttger (1.95 m / Forward ) Heinz Böttner (2.01 m / center) Rolf Dieter (1.81 m / Shooting Guard ) Volkmar Gaber (1.82 m / Shooting Guard) Peter Garthaus (1.89 m / Shooting Guard) Hans Gröneweg (1.81 m / Point Guard) Michael Haferkamp (1.82 m / point guard) Egon Homm (1.96 m / Forward) Eckhard Husemann (1.79 m / Shooting Guard) Günter Kollmann (1.94 m / forward) Ingbert Koppermann (1.99 m / Power Forward ) Eckhard Meyer (1.94 m / Power Forward) Ralph Ogden (1.96 m / Power Forward / USA ) Wolfgang Plock (1.94 m / Power Forward) Helmut Posern (1.93 m / forward) Ulrich Renner (1.91 m / Small Forward ) Harald Rupp (1.74 m / point guard) Rainer Tobien (1.87 m / Shooting Guard) Helmut Uhlig (1.78 m / point guard) Klaus Weinand (2.00 m / center) Rassem Yahya (1.78 m / Shooting Guard)

Notes: Players in italics come from the VfL youth team  (11 of 23) . 11  backcourt and 12  frontcourt players.

Olympic squad 1972

In October 1968, the VfL Bundesliga and DBB national players Michael Haferkamp, ​​Egon Homm, Ingbert Koppermann, Eckhard Meyer, Harald Rupp and Helmut Uhlig were appointed by the Federal Coaching Council of the German Basketball Federation , chaired by the then DBB sports manager Anton Kartak (USC Heidelberg) , accepted into the fifty-strong " 1972 Olympic squad" of the DBB. In the "Kartak list" of the DBB were the former youth and first division players of VfL, the national players Eckhard von Bock (Hannover 96) and Rolf Dieter (USC Munich) , as well as the former VfL Bundesliga player at the time of nomination and current player at the time B national player Günter Kollmann , from Quakenbrück, playing for ATV Düsseldorf in the basketball league in the 1968/1969 season . Training took place in the DBB performance centers in Heidelberg / Eppelheim and Cologne.

Heinz Böttner and Helmut Posern were also among the players nominated in the “Kartak List” in autumn 1968. Posern, who, together with coach Günter Hagedorn, came from Bundesliga club ATV Düsseldorf (previously DJK TuSA 08 Düsseldorf ), switched to TuS 04 Leverkusen in the season 1969/1970 and with that of manager Engelbert Zimmer, to the later participants in the 1972 Summer Olympics Dieter Kuprella, Jochen Pollex and Norbert Thimm, new at the start of the second Bundesliga season of the Leverkusen team, brought together the “works team” to bring the first German DBB championship to Leverkusen . Böttner, coming from the then first division relegated USC Münster , and Posern, both front court players and, like Wilfried Böttger from Dortmund, selected player of the North Rhine-Westphalian West German Basketball Association  ( WBV ), moved to VfL Osnabrück for the 1970/1971 European Cup season .

Homm and Uhlig as well as the then USC Munich player Dieter, all three players on the “ Twenties List ”, played under the responsibility of national coach Miloslav Kříž  - who was able to lead the VfL team into three “big DBB finals” within two seasons and in 1969 with eleven VfL players in Gießen became German basketball champion in 1969 - and Günter Hagedorn , the FIBA ​​European Championship 1969 - Qualifying Round in Saloniki  ( Greece ).

Dieter and Uhlig, both active in the BBL at USC Munich in 1971, played again for the DBB in an international tournament, the FIBA ​​European Championship for Men - Final Round 1971 in Germany ( Böblingen and Essen ), and achieved ninth place , with 16 participating national teams (Homm had ended his career as a Bundesliga and Olympic team player at the age of 23 at the end of 1970 at the end of 1970).

In 1972, in Munich, Helmut Uhlig and the former senior national team captain Klaus Weinand, who was only nominated for the 1972 Olympic squad in December 1971, belonged to the Olympic team of the then NOK for Germany at the Summer Olympics (Dieter had to retire in early 1972 because of a difficult End sports injury.) And played the Olympic basketball tournament  (twelfth place) with the German national basketball team .

Rupp belonged to the DBB-Spielerkreis the final preparatory phase of the "Olympic squad 1972" and was used in this phase, against the USSR on July 1, 1972, in a test match of the German national team. Following the 1972 Summer Olympics, he developed into one of the regular players in the DBB national team and was part of the DBB's senior squad until May 1977. After the Olympic basketball tournament in 1972 in Munich, the then B national players Koppermann and Meyer also played in the A national team of the DBB.

First division basketball with the Giants basketball club

At the end of the 1970s, the sports-loving insurance entrepreneur Peter "Bulle" Perwas, active as a soccer player in his youth in Osnabrück and father of the later DBB national player and professional DBB licensed trainer Klaus Perwas , began as a patron and motivated team manager , with extraordinary personal commitment, the competitive sports- oriented To re-establish basketball in Osnabrück. The team of the BC Giants Osnabrück succeeded in the promotion over several seasons, starting in the district class, in the 1st basketball league, with the participation of the former department head of VfL Osnabrück R. Henke and the former VfL regular players Koppermann and Meyer, during the season 1983/1984. Even in the lower leagues, the use of considerable financial resources was necessary in order to attract appropriately high-performing players for the club. The most famous player of the Osnabrueck "Giants" was in the season 1982/1983 in the second basketball league consisting of Delmenhorst coming Christian Welp . He first played, coming from the Osnabrück Post SV , in the A-youth of the "Giants". After his time in Osnabrück, Welp played in the USA as a college basketball player for the University of Washington in the Pacific-12 Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and then in North America as a professional for three NBA clubs. Other well-known players of the "Giants" were the former DBB national players of the 1970s Erhard Apeltauer and Rudi Kleen. The circle of players in the Osnabrück "Giants" also included the former youth national player from Oberursel and speculator and hedge fund manager Florian Homm  (2.03 meters long), one of the nephews of the entrepreneur, dressage rider and sports official Josef Neckermann , who "disappeared" in 2007 . The financial manager, he is the deceit and infidelity suspected was sought worldwide by police and American US due in March 2013 arrest warrant in Florence arrested (Italy) and extradition spent. At the end of the 1986/1987 season, after Peter Perwas had a fatal accident and the budget was no longer financed, the BBL was withdrawn or relegated and the "Giants" subsequently dissolved. The Osnabrück "Giants" had successfully played four seasons in the BBL. You were among the thirty-four participants in the Korać Cup 1983/84 . The success of the "master team" of VfL Osnabrück in the 1960s - the budget of the BC Giants Osnabrück per season was several times higher than, for example, that of the Bundesliga basketball players of VfL Osnabrück in the year of the championship success in the 1968/1969 season - not to be linked.

Basketball at VfL Osnabrück since 1995

At VfL Osnabrück , which mainly focuses on the competitive sport of football for men, basketball is only played by one team in the men's regional league, after there was no basketball department at VfL since 1976 until the mid-1990s male and female active participants in all age groups. Some of the VfL maxi basketball players regularly take part in the annual DBB age group tournaments of the Bundesbestenspiele basketball . The recreational players include players from the former Osnabrück regional league teams MTV, OTC and TSV, as well as players from the former Bundesliga club BG Osnabrück ( 2nd basketball league, 1975 to 1977 ). One of the maxi basketball players from the group of former VfL Bundesliga players is Rainer Tobien ( TSG Darmstadt , ASV Köln , VfL Osnabrück , TG Hanau , TV Langen ), who, together with Holger Geschwindner, is one of the Bundesliga players (first and second division of the DBB) with most stakes in Bundesliga basketball games is in more than 600 games. With a few exceptions, former VfL BBL players from the period of success from 1966 to 1970 did not play as maxi basketball players for their former club at the DBB's annual national best games, especially because they did not accept the basketball players des VfL 1975 - as a result, youth work was discontinued and the department was liquidated - were "abandoned" by their then presidium and Hartwig Piepenbrock never commented on this decision from one of the subsequent presidium members in a period of more than thirty-five years Management body of VfL Osnabrück . It is not known that even one of the twenty-two Bundesliga players from 1966 to 1970 remained a member of VfL after the basketball department was dissolved (18 of the 22 VfL players were citizens of the city of Osnabrück or a city or municipality in the Osnabrück district . ). The vast majority of Bundesliga players (18 players, including nine players from the group of basketball players trained as young people in Osnabrück) have or did not have the center of their life in the long term after moving to a club outside of Osnabrück or after ending their basketball career in Osnabrück or in another place in the Osnabrück region.

Additional information

See also

• Gold Cup of the City of Bremerhaven
• US players fight for the DBB's championship shield - 1962 to 1972
• Osnabrück, City of Peace
• Osnabrück country

Player profiles

• Player stats Lothar Waldowski FIBA ​​European Championship for Men - Final Round 1955
• Player stats Klaus Weinand FIBA ​​European Championship for Men - Final Round 1961
• Player stats Rolf Dieter and Helmut Uhlig FIBA ​​European Championship for Men - Final Round 1971
• Player stats Karel Baroch FIBA ​​European Championship for Men - Final Round 1965/67/69/71
• German national basketball team 1968 to 1972 - preparation for the 1972 Summer Olympics
• Player statistics Uhlig and Weinand Olympic Summer Games 1972 Munich, at SR / Sports Reference - Olympic Sports
• Portrait Ralph Ogden / NBA, at databasebasketball

swell

• "Basketball"  - "Official body of the German Basketball Federation" (born 1959 to 1975) - ISSN  0178-9279

Individual evidence

1. ↑ VfL Osnabrück becomes champion in Gießen. Höfig hands over the master shield to Captain Uhlig. In basketball - official organ of the German Basketball Federation, No. 9, April 30, 1969.
2. ^ German basketball championships and DBB cup winners website Sport-Complete - sports and sporting events, basketball data. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
3. ↑ GDR basketball championships - places one to three Website Sport-Complete - sports and sporting events, data basketball. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} "Cup Winners' Cup 1967–68" FIBA European Cup of National Cup Winners. Linguasport, Sport History and Statistics website. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} basketball history of the USC Heidelberg ( memento of the original from December 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) 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. Up to the 1976/77 season. USC Heidelberg website, history. Author Peter Wittig. Retrieved May 30, 2012. 
6. ↑ All masters of the GDR ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2018 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. Website DDR-Basketball - Everything about basketball in the east. Retrieved August 11, 2012. 
7. ↑ ^{a b c} FIBA, Helmut Uhlig's profile ( memento of the original from October 19, 2013 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. Website FIBA. Retrieved May 6, 2012. 
8. ↑ ^{a b c} FIBA, Klaus Weinand's profile ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2013 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. Website FIBA. Retrieved May 30, 2012. 
9. ↑ ^{a b} basketball / guest player - ten percent. Rassem Yahya . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1969 ( online ).
10. ↑ ^{a b} Creating a European Cup of Champion Clubs Website Linguasport, Sport History and Statistics. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
11. ↑ 50 Greatest Contributors List Players, Coaches, Referees. Website Euroleague Basketball ( Memento of July 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
12. ^ NN: The All-Time Player Nominees. ( Memento of January 2, 2015 on the Internet Archive ) Archived from EuroLeague website; Barcelona, ​​January 2, 2015. Accessed February 2, 2019.
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e} History - The “basketball” phenomenon: Invention - enthusiasm - dissemination. (PDF; 190 kB) German Basketball Association V., accessed on February 14, 2015 . 
14. ^ FIBA archive, player Lothar Waldowski. Website FIBA. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
15. ↑ VfL Osnabrück in the Oberliga Nord - Hamburger SV and Post SV Hamburg clearly beaten . In "NT" - Neue Tagespost, Sport am Montag, Osnabrücker Sportzeitung, published June 5, 1958.
16. ↑ Once upon a time: DBB delegation FIBA ​​EM 1985 (PDF) Jürgen Molitor (PDF document 15.4 MB) . DBB website. Article in DBB-Journal, No. 24, December 2011, page 31. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
17. ^ FIBA European Men's Championship 1993 - DBB delegation with Jürgen Molitor. Website Sporthelden, "The squad of the European champions 1993". Retrieved May 30, 2012.
18. ↑ "The basketball game in Osnabrück. Representation of the development of a sports game in a big city. “ Bodo Bernhardt, semester paper Sport. Summer semester 1968, with Hermann Westerhaus .
19. ↑ Lower Saxony won the youth basketball cup against Hessen 68:61 - four-day tournament in Osnabrück . In "NT" - Neue Tagespost, published May 23, 1966.
20. ↑ Cup winner and runner-up - the success story of the Giessen team continues 4th German youth championship. Website LTi Gießen 46ers, history, games / table / report. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
21. ↑ Final game of the German basketball championship 1965 Live commentary by radio reporter Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach (MP3 1.6 MB) . LTi Gießen 46ers website, history. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
22. ↑ ^{a b c} Winning the first championship - "We have never experienced a more dramatic basketball final" ( Memento of the original from November 28, 2011 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. 1965. Website LTi Gießen 46ers, history. Retrieved May 6, 2012. 
23. ↑ Ernie Butler - the extraordinary website LTi Gießen 46ers, history. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
24. ^ Karl Gosch: A dream came true. Ernie Butler won the "golden" basket . In Freie Presse (Gießen), Sport, published May 24, 1965.
25. ↑ ^{a b c} Letter from Anton Kartak, Vice President of the German Basketball Federation and Chairman of the National Coaching Council, on October 10, 1968, to the fifty basketball players nominated for the "1972 Olympic Squad".
26. ↑ Dr. Hermann Gösmann  - integrity and highly valued internationally. Website DFB, the presidents. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
27. ^ ^{A b c} Wilhelm Heckmann: Yakovos Bilek: "VfL lacks a coach" . In "NT" - Sport am Montag, Osnabrücker Sportzeitung, No. 101, published May 1, 1967.
28. ↑ Klaus Manthey: Curtain up on the basketball Bundesliga: VfL in Oldenburg - Osnabrückers have worries: Dr. Yahya and Dieter struck . In "OT" - Osnabrücker Tageblatt, published September 30, 1966.
29. ^ " II. International basketball tournament of the Post-SV Koblenz on 17./18. 9. 1966 ”in Koblenz - twenty-two-page information brochure for participants and spectators, published by the tournament management of the organizer.
30. ↑ " III. Intern. Basketball tournament of the Post-SV Koblenz on 9./10. 9. 1967 “in Koblenz - twenty-two-page information brochure for participants and spectators, published by the tournament management of the organizer.
31. ^ The European Cup Winner's Cup since 1966/1967. Website FIBA ​​Europe, History, Saporta Cup. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
32. ↑ Basketball player Miloslav Kříž died in the last phase of his 89th year of life. Website Česká televize . Retrieved May 24, 2013.
33. ↑ "European basketball is mourning the death of Miloslav Kriz." "Passed away on Monday, May 20, 2013, aged 89." Site Sparta Prague basketball, actualities. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
34. ↑ Miloslav Kriz's obituary notice. Website NOZ - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, obituaries. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
35. ↑ Miloslav Kriz, 89 - Passes Away Obituary for the death of the successful trainer and FIBA ​​official Dr. Miloslav Kříž, died on May 20, 2013. Website FIBA ​​Europa. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
36. ↑ Jungnickel goes to VfL Osnabrück . Allgemeine Zeitung (Gießen), No. 90, page 9, published April 18, 1968.
37. ↑ 1964 European Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men May 1964 in Geneva (Switzerland). Website FIBA. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
38. ^ VI Olympic Basketball Tournament (Tokyo 1964), Qualifying Stage European Pre-Olympic Tournament (Genève, Switzerland) in June 1964. Linguasport website - Sport History and Statistics. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
39. ↑ 1965 European Championship for Men ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2013 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. German Democratic Republic's roster. FIBA website, archive. Retrieved August 11, 2012. 
40. ↑ 1967 European Championship for Men ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2013 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. German Democratic Republic's roster. FIBA website, archive. Retrieved August 11, 2012. 
41. ↑ 1968 European Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men May and June 1968 in Sofia (Bulgaria) website FIBA. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
42. ↑ VII Olympic Basketball Tournament (México DF 1968) Qualifying Stage, May 25, 1968 to June 3, 1968. Linguasport website - Sport History and Statistics. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
43. ^ Hallstein Doctrine for German Sport? The pros and cons of breaking off sports traffic in Germany. Website Zeit-Online, Sport. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
44. ↑ Thaw in sport From 1971 onwards all-German competitions again. Website Zeit-Online. Article Ulrich Kaiser. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
45. ↑ ^{a b} international match statistics. DBB national team of men. Website University of Giessen. Retrieved May 30, 2012 (link not available.) .
46. ^ Men Basketball European Championship Qualification 1969. Thessaloniki (GRE). Website Todor66 by Todor Krastev. Sports Statistics, International Competitions Archive. German national team (DBB). Retrieved May 6, 2012 (website unavailable.) .
47. ↑ ^{a b} Certificate of Honor - Sports Honor Plaque of the City of Osnabrück in Gold , Osnabrück, January 16, 1970, Oberstadtdirektor Joachim Fischer and Lord Mayor Wilhelm Kelch.
48. ↑ Certificate of honor Sports plaque of the city of Osnabrück in silver , Osnabrück, January 10, 1969, Oberstadtdirektor Joachim Fischer and Lord Mayor Wilhelm Kelch.
49. ↑ 100 years VfL: Purple-white history (n) ( Memento of 16 July 2013 Web archive archive.today ) Farewell to VfL President Friedel Black. Website NOZ - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
50. ↑ The new basketball championship trophy costs 10,000 euros Website Schwäbische. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
51. ↑ Wilhelm Heckmann: VfL basketball player failed with 85:73 at MTV Gießen . In "NT" - Neue Tagespost - Sport am Montag, Osnabrücker Sportzeitung, No. 101, published May 1, 1967.
52. ↑ ^{a b} Hartwin Kiel, Jürgen Bitter and Bernd Stühlmeyer: VfL basketball player runner-up again - Giessen won 79:69 . In “NOZ” - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Sport Report, page 11, published April 29, 1968.
53. ↑ For the fourth time MTV 1846 against VfL Osnabrück - will MTV 1846 succeed again in the master crown? In Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 90, page 9, published April 18, 1969.
54. ↑ The VfL basketball players are German champions. In "NOZ" - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, 3rd volume, no. 42, page 1, published April 21, 1969.
55. ↑ Henner Gramsch: Sovereign VfL took the master from the throne - 69 Gießen: 76 VfL . In "NOZ" - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Sport Report, page 15, published April 21, 1969.
56. ↑ Klaus Manthey: VfL basketball player first DBB cup winner - 86:74 against ATV Düsseldorf crowns the first Bundesliga season . In "OT" - Osnabrücker Tageblatt, published June 12, 1967.
57. ^ After the runner-up championship: VfL DBB Cup winner, 86:74 success in the basketball final against ATV Düsseldorf . In "NT" - Neue Tagespost - Sport am Montag, Osnabrücker Sportzeitung, published June 12, 1967.
58. ↑ Henner Gramsch: 74:75 Seven seconds were missing - VfL basketball players lost the final for the DBB Cup . In “NOZ” - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Sport Report, June 16, 1969, page 9 appeared.
59. ↑ CHRONICLE ( Memento of the original from October 25, 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. - MTV Gießen / Gießener 46ers - The Bundesliga veteran from the Lahn. Website Giessen 46ers, Chronicle. Retrieved July 21, 2013. 
60. ↑ ^{a b} MTV is back in the finals of the 1971/1972 season. Website LTi Gießen 46ers, history, games / table / report. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
61. ^ Season overview 1966 to 1970. Website LTi Gießen 46ers, History. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
62. ^ FIBA archive, player Kurt Siebenhaar website FIBA. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
63. ^ FIBA archive, player Klaus Schulz website FIBA. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
64. ↑ Basketball at FC Bayern Munich: Tradition obliges ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2013 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. DBB Cup Winner 1968. Website FC Bayern Basketball. Retrieved May 11, 2012. 
65. ↑ Basketball was the stepchild, but Bayern has already won two championships. Interview with Klaus Schulz. TZ-Online website, January 7, 2011, José Carlos Menzel Lopez. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
66. ^ Games / table / report season 1969/70. LTi Gießen 46ers website, history. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
67. ↑ Game for Panthers. National coach Yakovos Bilek . In: Der Spiegel . No. 10 , 1968 ( online ).
68. ↑ Cup winners and runner-up games / table / report - Helmut Uhlig “Basketballer of the Year” 1969. Website LTi Gießen 46ers, history. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
69. ↑ MTV Gießen season 1966/67 to 1968/69. Website LTi Gießen 46ers, history, season review. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
70. ↑ A president for the football soul Only the club owners Schwarze and Piepenbrock held office longer than Rasch. Website "NOZ" - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. Author Harald Pistorius, February 5, 2012. Retrieved June 3, 2012.
71. ↑ Topic outsourcing: VfL has to tighten the information offensive ( memento from July 16, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Pile of broken glass in 1996. “NOZ” website - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. Author Harald Pistorius, May 31, 2012. Retrieved June 3, 2012.
72. ↑ Social responsibility Piepenbrock sponsors VfL Osnabrück . Website Piepenbrock Service GmbH + Co. KG. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
73. ^ Presidium of VfL Osnabrück Honorary President. Website lilaweiss.de . Retrieved July 2, 2013.
74. ↑ Pioneers in shorts and a hall that is much too narrow ( memento from September 18, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Basketball in Quakenbrück. NOZ website, article Bernhard Middendorf, July 7, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
75. ^ The European Cup for Men's Champion Clubs - The early Years. Fiba Europe website. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
76. ^ NN: February 22, 1958: The day it all started. ( Memento of June 16, 2011 on the Internet Archive ) Archived June 16, 2011 from: EuroLeague website; Barcelona, ​​February 22, 2008 (in English).
77. ↑ Basket Club Statistics | Year-by-Year Results VfL Osnabrück in the FIBA ​​European Cup. Website Sotiris Athanasias, Thessaloniki - Country Germany. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
78. ^ ^{A b} Athens basketball: Devotion through the decades 1968 Slavia Prague against AEK Athens as well as players Kokolakis, Kolokithas, Kontos and Koroneos. Euroleague website, article Danos Tsakalos (Athens), April 9, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
79. ↑ Jiri Zidek sr. A Czech legend. Euroleague website, article by Vladimir Stankovic, June 9, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
80. ↑ Basketball / guest players - ten percent . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1969 ( online - VfL official Wolfgang Kosel 1969 in Prague).
81. ↑ Karel Baroch's profile Participation in four European basketball championships. Website FIBA. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
82. ↑ Club Statistics & Year-by-Year Results ASK Vorwärts Leipzig in the FIBA ​​European Cup. Website Sotiris Athanasias, Thessaloniki - Country Germany. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
83. ↑ Hartwin Kiel: Victory was possible - a little luck was missing against Slavia Prague . In "NOZ" - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Sport Report, published January 15, 1968.
84. ↑ Hartwin Kiel: Terrible, that was bad - Slavia officials dissatisfied . In "NOZ" - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Sport Report, published January 15, 1968.
85. ^ FIBA archive, player Jaroslav Šíp website FIBA. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
86. ^ " 1967-68 FIBA ​​European Cup Winner's Cup " in the English language Wikipedia.
87. ↑ Jiří Zedníček, Slavia Praha Olympic Summer Games 1972. Website SR / Sports Reference - Olympic Sports. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
88. ^ Jiří Zídek, Slavia Praha Olympic Summer Games 1972. Website SR / Sports Reference - Olympic Sports. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
89. ↑ Hartwin Kiel: VfL player arrested at the border - Egon Homm back to Prague. In "NOZ" - Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, published January 23, 1968.
90. ↑ 1969 European Championship for Men website FIBA. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
91. ^ " 1969–70 FIBA ​​European Champions Cup " in the English language Wikipedia.
92. ↑ "Champions Cup 1969–70" FIBA European Champion Clubs' Cup. Linguasport, Sport History and Statistics website. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
93. ↑ EOK - Greek Basketball Association ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2012 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. National player statistics archive. Website Hellenic Basketball Federation. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
94. ↑ History Panathinaikos BC - Green Legends ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2015 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. Players Kokolakis, Kolokithas, Kontos and Koroneos. Website Panathinaikos BC, Official website. Retrieved October 14, 2012. 
95. ↑ FIBA archive, player Dimitrios Kokolakis. Website FIBA. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
96. ^ FIBA archive, player Georgios Kolokithas. Website FIBA. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
97. ↑ FIBA Archive, Player Apostolos Account. Website FIBA. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
98. ^ FIBA archive, player Panagiotis Koroneos. Website FIBA. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
99. ^ "Cup Winners' Cup 1970–71" FIBA European Cup of National Cup Winners. Linguasport, Sport History and Statistics website. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
100. ↑ Basketball - The anniversary celebration of the old masters Website Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, April 30, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
101. ↑ Men Basketball European Championship Qualification 1969 - Thessaloniki (GRE) Website Todor66 by Todor Krastev. Sports Statistics, International Competitions Archive. German national team (DBB) with Homm and Uhlig. Retrieved May 6, 2012 (website unavailable.) .
102. ↑ XVI European Championship (Napoli 1969) Qualifying Stage: May 9th to May 25th. Linguasport, Sport History and Statistics website. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
103. ^ FIBA - 1971 FIBA ​​European Championship for Men 10th to 19th September 1971 - Essen and Böblingen. Website FIBA. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
104. ^ FIBA, Rolf Dieter's profile website FIBA. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
105. ^ Federal Republic of Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics - Basketball Website SR / Sports Reference - Olympic Sports. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
106. ↑ "I practically lived in the hall" Klaus Perwas. NOZ website, article on November 13, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2012
107. ^ "Korać Cup 1983-84" First and Second Round. Linguasport, Sport History and Statistics website. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
108. ↑ Basketball ball artists from America The highly paid stars from overseas dominate the Bundesliga. Website Zeit-Online. Article by Karl Morgenstern, December 24, 1976. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
109. ↑ Florian Homm's Biography Website The Truth About Florian Homm, April 3, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
110. ↑ “It's okay if they call me vultures”  - Florian Homm faces up to 25 years in prison. Website sueddeutsche.de, article Simone Boehringer, Alexander Mühlauer and Markus Zydra, on March 12, 2013. Accessed May 14, 2013.
111. ↑ VfL Osnabrück ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2012 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. Basketball department. Website VfL Osnabrück. Retrieved May 30, 2012. 
112. ^ Table  - District class men south (Seniors Weser-Ems sub-district Osnabrück, league number 44230). Website DBB, Leagues, Results. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
113. ↑ Still on the ball at over 60 - How a veteran in German basketball keeps fit ( Memento from July 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Website really fit - the fitness initiative of the German Sports Association. Article Rainer Tobien. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
114. ↑ Basketball player of the TG Hanau in 1974 ( memento of the original from October 30, 2013 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. Promotion of the former VfL Osnabrück first division players L. Ellinghaus and R. Tobien to the 1st basketball division. Website Whitewings, Chronicle, 1974. Retrieved September 28, 2013.