Hansi Schmidt Explained

Hansi Schmidt
Other Names:Hans-Günther Schmidt
Occupation:German handball player
Birth Date:23 September 1942
Birth Place:Teremia Mare, Romania

Hans-Günther Schmidt (24 September 1942 – 5 February 2023) was a Romanian-born German handball player of Banat Swabian origin.

The son of a medical doctor, and an athletic prodigy (when he was twelve he played already for the local handball team), Schmidt became Romanian national high school champion in shot put.[1] After playing for Știința Timișoara and Știința Bucharest, he transferred to Steaua Bucharest, the military team.[1]

Schmidt defected from Romania to West Germany when he was 21 years old during a match tour with the Romanian national youth team.[2] Being a member of the military, he was sentenced to death for desertion.[1] [3]

In seven out of twelve German championships which VfL Gummersbach won in the Handball-Bundesliga, Hansi Schmidt played a crucial role as a goal scorer and playmaker. All in all, he played in ten finals for the German championship. Between 1967 and 1972 he became six times in a row top goal scorer of the Bundesliga's Northern League, the first five times also of the Bundesliga itself. In 1975 he became again top goal scorer of the Northern League.

In 2008 he was named one of the VfL's "All-Star-Team“.[4]

Considered to be the inventor of the delayed jump shot in handball,[5] he worked as a coach, and later as a physical education teacher, after retiring from active play.[6]

Schmidt was married and had two children. He died on 5 February 2023, at the age of 80.[7]

Clubs

Results

Awards

References

  1. Web site: Geschichten rund um den Handball in Siebenbürgen (XI). German. 29 July 2002. 7 June 2014.
  2. Web site: Hans-Günther Schmidt stellt sein Buch am 31.10.2006 vor. German. 7 June 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714231637/http://www.hausderheimat-nuernberg.de/archiv_2_2006.html. 14 July 2014.
  3. Web site: Mehr Raffinesse mit Dach überm Kopf. German. 8 June 2014. 10 January 2014. Nürnberger Zeitung.
  4. Web site: Nur mit einer überragenden Abwehr hat man gegen Kiel eine Chance. Oberberg Aktuell. 26 September 2008. German. 7 June 2014. 26 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080926175103/http://www.oberberg-aktuell.de/show-article.php?iRubrikID=216&iArticleID=78696. dead.
  5. Web site: Das ehemalige Gummersbacher Handball-Idol Hansi Schmidt wird 70. German. 8 June 2014. 24 September 2012. Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung.
  6. Handballwoche 43/2007, 23 October 2007
  7. News: Weltklasse-Handballspieler Hansi Schmidt ist gestorben . 7 February 2023 . Frankfurter Allgemeine . 7 February 2023.

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