Fritz Herkenrath

Friedrich "Fritz" Herkenrath (9 September 1928 in Cologne – 18 April 2016) was a football goalkeeper for West Germany at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He earned 21 caps between 1954 and 1958.[1]

Fritz Herkenrath
Personal information
Date of birth (1928-09-09)9 September 1928
Place of birth Cologne, Germany
Date of death 18 April 2016(2016-04-18) (aged 87)
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1946–1951 Preußen Dellbrück
1951–1952 1. FC Köln
1952–1965 Rot-Weiss Essen
National team
1954–1958 West Germany 21 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He took his club team Rot-Weiss Essen to the peak of its history and won a national championship in 1955. The following season, Rot-Weiss Essen became the first German side to qualify for the European Cup.

Initially, Herkenrath played handball. He started out as a right winger and only later became a goalkeeper. Soon after World War II, Herkenrath switched from handball to football. Herkenrath began studying at the German Sport University Cologne where he first encountered Sepp Herberger, who was a tutor there.[2] Playing for 1. FC Köln in the early 1950s, Herkenrath was mostly the second goalkeeper behind the Dutchman Frans de Munck. He joined Rot-Weiß Essen in 1952 and soon rose to prominence playing for Essen. Herkenrath became known as the "flying schoolmaster" due to his main occupation as a teacher.

He retired in 1962 after 336 games in the Oberliga West and became a professor at the college of education in Aachen.[3] He died on April 18, 2016 at the age of 87.[4]

References
  1. Arnhold, Matthias (1 September 2016). "Fritz Herkenrath - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  2. Bitter, Jürgen. Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler, Sportverlag, 1997, p. 179.
  3. Bitter, Jürgen. Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler, Sportverlag, 1997, p. 180.
  4. Ex-Nationalspieler und RW-Essen-Legende gestorben (in German)
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