Top facts about Fritz Walter, The Little Fritz

Time washes every memory away! However, there are people who withstand the power of time. People who will be remembered for decades, centuries, or even for a millennium. Today in this article of

, we will talk about one of these people. Fritz Walter is our target and we are going to read everything about him in Sportmob's

Top facts about Fritz Walter

.

Friedrich "Fritz" Walter who was a professional footballer in Germany was born in Kaiserslautern on October 31, 1920, and died on June 17, 2002, in Enkenbach-Alsenborn. Fritz is considered one of the most charismatic figures in German football. With this legend as captain and as the right hand of national coach Sepp Herberger, the squad won the 1954 World Cup. At the 1958 World Cup, the 37-year-old veteran and senior member of the German squad was also a fixture for the defending champion title.

Walter was a long-time supporter of FC Kaiserslautern, with whom he won two German titles. From 1945 until 1959, the dynamic midfielder and striker appeared in 321 league games and scored 273 goals with the Southwest Football League's "Red Devils." 

Fredrich was known as the "great Fritz" or the "little Fritz," and TV icon Rudi Michel famously quipped of the first DFB honorary captain, "The man carries his first name with him like a degree." No other German footballer, not even Kaiser, Bomber, or Uwe Seeler had the same level of popularity as this young guy from the Palatinate. For many, he is the most popular German athlete of all time, alongside Max Schmeling.

So, Let's start! The top facts about Fritz Walter you need to know

Before we start the real story, we will get into the quick facts below. Reading them will help us understand Fritz better.

• Full name:

  Friedrich Walter

• Birthday:

  October 31, 1920

• date of death:

  June 17, 2002

• Place of death:

  Enkenbach-Alsenborn, Germany

• Birthplace:

  Kaiserslautern,  German Empire

• Father:

  Ludwig Walter

• Mother:

  Dorothea Walter

• Brother:

  Ottmar Walter

• Spouse:

  Italia Walter (M. 1948–2001)

• Children:

  Not Available

• Height:

  1.74 m

• Weight:

  73

• Eye Color:

  Dark Brown

• Hair Color:

  Black

Now that we know the basic info we needed to start our article, it's time to get into the

top facts about Fritz Walter

and read the real story.

Fritz Walter Childhood

Let's start our top facts about Fritz Walter with his childhood story. Friedrich "Fritz" Walter was born in Kaiserslautern in 1920 as the eldest of five children to Dorothea and Ludwig Walter. He had two sisters, Gisela and Sonja, as well as two brothers, Ludwig and Ottmar, both of whom played for FC Kaiserslautern, the beloved family team! Later, he became a member of the national team alongside Ottmar, and he and his brother won the world championship in Switzerland in 1954.

Thanks to Hudwig's love for football, Fritz was introduced to football at a young age. As a seven-year-old on the FCK school squad, he took his first steps on the football pitch. Initially playing as a right defense, the outstanding skill quickly became a well-known footballer in the FCK youth attack.

Rudi Michel, Fritz Walter's long-time journalistic partner, and friend recalled in November 1985, when the later great Fritz was still young Fritzchen: "I don't know the specific year, but it must have been around 1928/29 be."  At the time, he was already a minor performer for an average of 2000 to 2500 people, those who laughed at his football skills, were astounded at his gaming abilities, and shouted and hailed him as a mini-star.

The outstanding performances and his love towards people made so many managers tell themselves: "He's going to be one, he's going to be extremely big; we'll finally have a national player in the provinces as well." That was when everybody knew a football legend started playing football near them.

Fritz Walter Teenage years

However, the young Fritz learned the fundamentals of football as a street footballer, which was the most popular recreational activity among young people at the time.

The technically better dribbler, combiner, and striker revealed himself as a master in the games of the "Kanälcher" across the street from the canal to canal, the kick during the breaks in the schoolyard, and the clashes between the district teams, as well as on the field with the Club youngsters.

The news in the local press became more prevalent beginning in the spring of 1938. On March 25, the youth player earned his debut with Lauterer's first squad in a friendly against FC Pforzheim (5: 5).

The newcomer made his senior league debut with two goals. Previously, beginning in early 1938, the physically still weak young hopefuls would come to the Speyerer butcher's lunch break to eat in order to compensate for their lack of strength through the catering there and so gain the lack of medical permission for employment in the senior sector.

Fritz was not only a great footballer, but he was also one of the finest students in his class. During his apprenticeship at the banking agency Heinrich Hasemann in Weberstrasse, he attended the Kaiserslautern vocational school, commercial department, from April 24, 1935, to April 12, 1938, and got the grade "very excellent" in all subjects on his April 12, 1938 discharge certificate.

With the help of Lord Mayor Richard Imbt, he was hired on June 1, 1939, in the accounting department of the Stadtsparkasse, which was led by FCK founding member Karl Wünschel. The Bank incident ended when he was called for military duty in December 1940.

Fritz Walter in search of dreams

FCK was demoted as the Gauliga Südwest's penultimate team in the 1937/38 season. A new coach, ex-Berliner Karl Berndt, took over the athletic management, and with the progress of Fritz Walter from the youth ranks, a new era for the Betzenberg-Elf started.

His influence on the FCK's sporting revival was so significant that game schedules were created by the "Walter squad" as early as 1940. The demoted Gauliga began on September 11, 1938, with an 8: 1 victory and four Walter hits against

in the initial round in the Central Palatinate's second-class district.

In October, Walter scored all twelve goals in back-to-back games against FC Rodalben and WSV Kammgarn Kaiserslautern. Its sports significance was obvious from the start, and with the much-noticed "newcomer," FCK won the Central Palatinate district title in 1939, finishing six points ahead of SG Neustadt.

The club scored 113 goals in 24 games, with rookie Fritz Walter contributing 59 goals to the championship. The FCK also won the promotion round in May/June, defeating VfR Frankenthal and TSG Burbach, and therefore returned to the Gauliga Südwest for the 1939/40 season.

The rage of war

Fritz Walter was recruited into the Wehrmacht's 23 barracks in Kaiserslautern on December 5, 1940. The infantry replacement battalion was stationed at Kaiserslautern from December 5, 1940, Conflans in eastern France from July 13, 1941. On December 1, 1943, Fritz was reassigned to the 11th Air Force Fighter Squadron in Jever from the 2nd Company Fortress Battalion 902 with operational area Italy.

Walter led an adventurous life as a footballer after being drafted into the Wehrmacht and played in eleven different formations: as a "vacationer" in 1. FCK, as a "guest player" in TSG Diedenhofen and TSG Saargemünd, as a "representative" in the Westmark region, as an "international" in the Reichself, as a soldier in the foosball company of the Guard Battalion Greater Germany, as an "a Hermann

Graf, a football-obsessed fighter pilot, led a squadron and eventually gathered high-performing footballers. During World War II, the "Rote Jäger" became one of the greatest German military teams. FCK and Walter finished second in Gau Westmark in 1940/41, behind FV Saarbrücken, with 16 goals in 13 games. In 1941/42, the national player scored 43 goals in 14 league games to help the team win the title.

In addition to Walter, half of the players, Werner Kohlmeyer, Ernst Liebrich, Baßler, his brother Ottmar, and Heinz Jergens, were members of the FCK squad, which began a successful phase in the Oberliga Südwest following the war's conclusion.

Fritz Walter was only utilized infrequently for his FCK in the 1942/43 and 1943/44, which were heavily impacted by the conditions of the war; nonetheless, the debut of the eventual "world stopper" Werner Liebrich was appealing in the last round played in Gau Westmark 1943/44. Walter said he hadn't fired a single shot before being apprehended.

On May 8, 1945, he was apprehended by US soldiers in Bohemia and deported to the Red Army, along with many others. In Soviet captivity, he was held in a camp in Máramarossziget (Romania), close to the

border. He played football with Hungarian and Slovak guards while recovering from a malaria illness.

They recognized the

 national player and introduced him to Zhukov, the Soviet camp commandant. According to Zhukov, he rescued Walter and his younger brother Ludwig from the Siberian prison; the boys were released on October 28, 1945, and returned to Kaiserslautern. Walter later referred to the soccer game with the guards as the "game of his life," rather than the 1954 World Cup final.

Football in the French Zone

On January 6, 1946, the clubs in the French occupation zone began playing with 10 teams in what was then known as the "1. Liga Südwestdeutschland Nord," which served as the foundation for the later Oberliga Südwest. The previous Gauliga Westmark provided half of the ten new league clubs:  FC Kaiserslautern, FC Saarbrücken, Phönix Ludwigshafen, Borussia Neunkirchen, and VfR Frankenthal. Wormatia Worms, FK Pirmasens, FSV Mainz 05, FC Idar, and Hassia Bingen finished the "Zone League North."

Fritz Walter returned to his hometown from captivity with his brother Ludwig on October 28, 1945, three days before his 25th birthday. Their home was no longer the same as the one they had left. The city was devastated, and souls were harmed. "Chaos, misfortune, ruins, and hunger." This was Fritz's summary of his impressions.

After all, his parents' house remained. And father and mother were still alive. The sisters as well. Only Ottmar remained in English captivity. He became the spark for the renovation of FCK almost immediately after his arrival. Taken in by the new leadership circle centered on interim chairman Paul Karch, he agreed: "Football and nothing else," journalist Rudi Michel cites his friend's choice.

He subsequently assumed the roles of managing director, player coach, and captain for his club in personal union. However, the Betzenberg was still held by the French occupying power; it wasn't until Walter agreed to teach the French soldiers' team that the military administration relinquished control of the facility to FCK.

Our national player had already collected a group of players on the nearby pea mountain and resumed practicing by the end of war. The first-hour men comprised the Liebrich twins Ernst and Werner, goalkeeper Werner Baßler, and defender Werner Kohlmeyer.

Because the FCK's first game in Bingen had been postponed, the first opponent in the home game on January 13, 1946, was SV Phönix Ludwigshafen. The 10-0 first-game triumph signaled that its time for a comeback.

Up to the currency reform in 1948, the most serious difficulty was the population's and therefore football players' severely low food and supply conditions. All daily talks centered around potatoes, bread, coals, and tobacco, which could best be "sold" - that is, swapped - if you were not a smoker yourself.

 Because elite athletic achievements were difficult to attain with a grumbling stomach, the club and squad used their sporting level of awareness to enhance their personal nutritional situation: Country clubs hosted so-called cranberry, food, or calorie games, in which the game price for the far higher-class FCK was sought in kinds, such as food or coal.

Local farmers or innkeepers who enjoy football were frequently among the organizers of these events. The look of the then-FCK team meant that the FCK established an extraordinarily devoted following in these localities.

International Dream

Walter, at 19, made his international debut on July 14, 1940, scoring three goals in a 9-3 victory over Romania. A few weeks later, he scored two goals in a 13:0 victory over

. Herberger used to claim that it takes around ten or twelve games to determine whether or not a player is truly ready for the national team.

After the second game, he had no more concerns about Fritz Walter. Helmut Schön, who eventually replaced Herberger, was a backup to the Palatinate debutante and recalls his initial impressions: "I can still see him when we met for the first time." It was the summer of 1940, just before Fritz Walter's debut against

. He was quite bashful and meek; he was a medium-sized, slender youngster with a pointed face, a 'boy,' as Otto Nerz would have put it. He spoke a pleasant Palatine dialect. But as soon as he received the ball, it was clear: he was a natural. "It matured into brilliance."

Experts valued his tactical talents, which he used to lead his team's assaults, more than his scoring ability. By frequently switching positions, including defense, he epitomized a whole new sort of striker and was heralded as a potential superstar. Herberger coached his protégé as if he were a professional coach. Against his own club, the Reich Sports Authority, military superiors, and the press, the delicate football magician could rely on his mentor's harsh words.

Herberger deceived, promoted, and colluded to provide a type of refuge for the football genius's protection and care in the increasingly frightening tumult of war. Fritz Walter, his "darling," as he referred to himself, received extra attention and devotion from him. He never did as much for anyone else as he did for himself.

He'd never been so frank with anybody before. He never expressed his feelings for anybody so openly. On the other hand, Herberger had complete control over his protégés, monitoring them as reliably as a radar system. He detected signals, detected disruptions, detected collisions, and kept threats at bay. He was the only one who could decide what was best for Fritz.

Lauterer appeared in 24 international matches and scored 20 goals between 1940 and 1942. The two international matches versus Hungary on April 6, 1941, in Cologne and May 3, 1942, in Budapest were particularly memorable.

In Cologne, a 7-0 victory was obtained after an outstanding performance, particularly in the inner storm with Hahnemann, Walter, and Schön. "After all, I've experienced as a player and subsequently as a coach, this game can only be compared with our 3-1 triumph over England at Wembley Stadium, as Günter Netzer had its biggest day," said teammate and two-time goalscorer Helmut Schön.

In Budapest, the DFB-Elf transformed a 3-1 Hungarian half-time advantage into a 5-3 triumph, the first in the long history of German-Hungarian football on Budapest turf. Karl Decker and Edmund Conan each scored twice.

After winning the international match 5-3 against

on October 18, 1942, in Bern, one of the most renowned international experts, Gabriel Hanot, delivered the first big international song of appreciation for Fritz Walter.

Outside the Football 

So many of you want to hear about player's personal life. So, we will talk about this subject in this part of the top facts about Fritz Walter. Fritz and his wife Italia began their personal life by opening a laundromat to make sure they can work even after football. Worsted yarn, a huge fabric mill that still exists at the time, commissioned all of its washing from Walters!

After Kammgarn had entirely purchased the laundry, the Walters hurried into the movie industry, purchasing and opening the "Universe" as well as installing a Toto acceptance point in the anteroom.

The German honorary captain was found in a completely new industry, which he then "plowed" even further: ambitious enterprises signed him as their agent. It all began with Adidas. Saba, Hipp, Neckermann, and a slew of others quickly followed suit.

An autograph booth with Fritz Walter proved to be a huge hit at the international trade expo for sporting goods and sportswear (ISPO) in Munich. Other corporations were interested in his distinctive hours for decades after the news got out.

The number of hours Fritz would have worked each day increased from five to six, and a packed and hectic five-day week became the norm. For many years, his calendar was jam-packed with 30 to 40-hour workweeks.

According to historian Joachim Fest, the Federal Republic of Germany had three founding fathers: politically, Konrad Adenauer, economically, Ludwig Erhard, and intellectually, Fritz Walter. In reality, the Federal Republic was created on July 4, 1954, the day before the final in Bern. Despite all the success and happiness in their lives, every story has an ending and we are going to read this legends ending in next part of our

top facts about Fritz Walter

.

Fritz Walter Death

Fritz Walter died in Alsenborn in 2002, a little later in the same year his beloved wife and friend Italia died. In the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup versus the US national team, the German players wore a black ribbon in his honor. He couldn't see "his" soccer World Cup in Kaiserslautern. Walter previously stated that he would be satisfied with his life if he could still attend the 2006 World Cup in Kaiserslautern. Walter was buried in an honorary burial at Kaiserslautern's main cemetery. Thousands of football lovers came to pay their respects to him.

Although he was no longer able to attend the World Cup, he most likely played a significant effect in Kaiserslautern's selection as the 2006 World Cup host city, even before Bremen. Fritz was an active participant as the official World Cup ambassador in Kaiserslautern's 5 World Champions campaign with Horst Eckel, Ottmar Walter, the then FCK trainer

and the then player

.

The Fritz Walter Foundation is named after our legendary player. He was the first soccer world champion to have a monument constructed in his honor during his lifetime: the Betzenberg stadium was renamed as the Fritz-Walter-Stadium in 1985.

Since 2005, the German Football Association has awarded the Fritz Walter Medal in gold, silver, and bronze to the Young Player of the Year. This award is meant to recognize outstanding accomplishments in each of the three age categories U 17, U 18, and U 19. The DFB honors the honorary captain of the German national team, who died in 2002 and has been a role model in both sport and personal terms since winning the 1954 World Cup, as Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder noted at the award ceremony in 2005. Thanks for reading Sportmob's top facts about Fritz Walter.

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