Walter Schmidt (soccer player, 1937)

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Walter Schmidt in the Eintracht Stadium (2009).

Walter Schmidt (born August 2, 1937 in Bremerhaven ) is a former German football player who won the German championship with Eintracht Braunschweig in 1967 .

career

Youth and amateur, until 1959

Walter Schmidt, who was born in the Wesermünde district of Bremerhaven and moved to Recke with his grandparents in the mining community in Tecklenburger Land during the Second World War , went through his basic sports training at TuS Recke as a student. He practiced versatile in apparatus gymnastics, in athletics and in soccer. Schmidt was third at the Westphalia Championships in the mixed decathlon. Almost every evening the young athlete, who started his apprenticeship as a miner in Ibbenbüren from April 1952, went to training at his home club in Recke. As a footballer, he soon received appointments in the Tecklenburg district selection and later in the Westphalia selection. He passed his miners' examination with distinction and practiced the profession he had learned until he was drafted into the Bundeswehr on April 1, 1957 at the Faßberg air base . He went through a non-commissioned officer course, continued to play football with TuS Recke and served in the Bundeswehr as a sports and support officer in Faßberg. His footballing qualities were now also noticed by the upper division clubs Eintracht Braunschweig and Hannover 96 and Walter Schmidt signed a contract in Braunschweig for the round in 1959/60.

Oberliga Nord and Bundesliga, 1959 to 1969

From the round of 1959/60, the non-commissioned officer Walter Schmidt, stationed in Fassberg near Celle, played as a contract footballer with Eintracht Braunschweig in the Northern Football League . On August 16, 1959, he made his debut in the team of coach Kurt Baluses in the 4-1 home win against Bergedorf 85 with two goals in the league, in which he scored four goals in 27 missions in his debut year. In May 1962 he and his club mates Joachim Bäse , Hans Jäcker and Jürgen Moll took part in a three-week tour of the United States with the North German selection (NFV), including six games. The decisive third place in the table for the Bundesliga nomination came in the 1962/63 round under coach Hans Vogel with a furious second half of the season of 23: 7 points. On the last match day of the old first-class northern league, on April 29, 1963, Schmidt and his teammates won the home game against VfB Lübeck with 2-1 goals and thus defended third place in the table. From 1959 to 1963, the beginning right runner - later acting as a defensive midfielder - played 116 games with eight goals in the Oberliga Nord. On March 31, 1963, Schmidt was dismissed from the Bundeswehr and took a morning job as a volunteer at a bank in Wolfenbüttel for the 1963/64 Bundesliga season.

Under the guidance of coach Helmuth Johannsen , who came to the Bundesliga start in Braunschweig , the Eintracht team successfully fought off the predicted relegations in the three opening rounds of the Bundesliga from 1963/64 to 1965/66. Walter Schmidt played all 94 games in these rounds. The ex-amateur footballer from Recke belongs to the group of active players who got the newly created Bundesliga up and running on August 24, 1963 with the opening game at TSV 1860 Munich in the 1963/64 season. On September 24, 1966, Schmidt, who had been employed as a gymnastics and sports teacher at the Nibelungen School in Braunschweig for 20 hours a week from April 1, 1966, was the only player to celebrate his hundredth appearance on the 100th Bundesliga match day. On the occasion of this event, he was flown to the “Current Sports Studio” in Mainz with coach Johannsen immediately after the game against MSV Duisburg.

The first time out he had on November 26, 1966, the 14th match day of the 1966/67 round, after 107 Bundesliga games in a row. With the balance of 20:14 points in the second half of the 1965/66 season, coach Johannsen's team indicated that there had been an upward trend in sport. Walter Schmidt was not only a top performer because of his permanent presence. In the first round of 1963/64, he was ranked second behind Werner Krämer from Meidericher SV with 2.47 . The 1966/67 round, with the sensational win of the German soccer championship , was the highlight of the career of the midfielder, who was always in top form . In 33 games, he achieved a grade of 2.55 and thus contributed significantly to this success. In four rounds of the Bundesliga he only missed one game in Braunschweig. The trio Walter Schmidt, Peter Kaack and Joachim Bäse stood for team spirit , reliability, high level of commitment, system loyalty and exemplary athletic training. Thanks to this constantly available framework, players like Klaus Gerwien , Erich Maas and especially Lothar Ulsaß were also able to set playful accents. Immediately after the championship round with the honors and celebrations, Eintracht went on a three-week tour to North America. Internationally, Eintracht struck in the European Cup of National Champions in 1967/68 in the games against SK Rapid Vienna and Juventus Turin . The fact that the Italian series winner was forced into a playoff, which he won 1-0, was another performance that Eintracht had previously not been trusted. Walter Schmidt played his last Bundesliga game in the 2-0 defeat at 1. FC Nürnberg on April 19, 1969 and finished fourth in the 1968/69 round. In the preparatory game on August 6, 1969 for the 1969/70 round against Slovan Bratislava , the former excellent gymnast injured his knee so badly that his career as a competitive athlete was over. Due to the torn meniscus, the 33-year-old was declared a sports invalid and officially bid farewell to the club on September 19, 1970 before the Bundesliga match against VfB Stuttgart. For 530 games played within ten years, he received the golden ring of honor of Eintracht. From 1963 to 1969 he played 183 games for the German champions of the year 1967 in the Bundesliga, scoring seven goals.

International

The then national coach Helmut Schön used the defensive midfielder on March 10, 1965 in the game of the B-country team in Hanover against Holland. Playmates were the young stars Franz Beckenbauer , Günter Netzer and club mate Lothar Ulsaß. At the beginning of the Bundesliga season 1965/66, Walter Schmidt received his first invitation from national coach Schön to take part in a viewing course for the national team. On November 15, 1966, he took part in a test match of the national team in Berlin against a city selection Berlin. He spent the international match on November 19, 1966 in Cologne against Norway without playing on the substitute bench. The model professional did not receive any further appointments from the DFB. In the Eintracht chronicle "A red lion on the chest" is recorded:

“Walter Schmidt, one of the best and most consistent players in Eintracht for years, was not granted an international match. He definitely deserved a chance. Significant: For the third time in 1966, Schmidt was named the best Bundesliga player of the season by the trade journal "Fußball-Sport". And it was reserved for the wiry model athlete and defensive specialist to be recognized as the only Bundesliga player for 100 appearances on the 100th day of the elite class (before the home game against Meidericher SV on September 24, 1966). "

- Horst Bläsig, Alex Leppert

Specialty

In addition to contract and licensed football, Walter Schmidt always had a job - like most of his teammates - initially as a sports sergeant, from April 1, 1966 as a gymnastics and sports teacher - he had a two-semester training course at the central institute from April 7, 1965 for sports education in Hanover for the study of sports teacher for secondary schools and secondary schools - in order to be active as a teacher for sports, mathematics and geography at the PH Braunschweig after graduation - studies started in the winter semester 1968. The term “after-work professional” can be applied to the German champions of 1967.

author

In 2008 Schmidt wrote a book about his life with the title "Sport, mein Leben" which was printed in 2009 with an edition of 5,000 copies. Before that, he wrote down a few things about his career for his family. Those who read his remarks encouraged him to write the book. He also released a DVD about the BTSV Eintracht championship, which was very popular at the start of sales. He uses the proceeds to support social projects.

Trivia

In 2009 Schmidt had to undergo a severe bypass operation.

successes

  • German champion 1967

literature

  • Jens Reimer Prüß (Ed.): Bung bottle with flat pass cork. The history of the Oberliga Nord 1947–1963. Klartext, Essen 1991, ISBN 3-88474-463-1 .
  • Ulrich Merk, André Schulin: Bundesliga chronicle 1963/64. Volume 1: Triumphal procession of the billy goats. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-89784-083-9 .
  • Matthias Weinrich: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 3: 35 years of the Bundesliga. Part 1. The founding years 1963–1975. Stories, pictures, constellations, tables. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89784-132-0 .
  • Matthias Kropp: Triumphs in the European Cup. All games of the German clubs since 1955 (= "AGON Sportverlag statistics." Volume 20). AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-928562-75-4 .
  • Walter Schmidt, Sport mein Leben, Edition Limosa, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86037-382-8 .
  • Interview with Walter Schmidt in Kicker Sportmagazin No. 76 from September 19, 2011, p. 94/95.

Individual evidence

  1. Walter Schmidt, Sport mein Leben, Edition Limosa, 2009, p. 78.
  2. Walter Schmidt, Sport mein Leben, p. 79.
  3. Horst Bläsig, Alex Leppert : A red lion on the chest. Publishing house Die Werkstatt. Göttingen 2010. ISBN 978-3-89533-675-1 . Pp. 107/108.
  4. Walter Schmidt, Sport mein Leben, p. 88.
  5. Kicker Sportmagazin No. 76 from September 19, 2011, p. 94/95.

Web link

Players A – Z (bung bottle) , visited on March 17, 2020