Soccer Coach and Player. Best known for taking a small regional team, Borussia Mönchengladbach, to the German championship and European fame. He began his career as a player at 17 with Kölner BC 01 in 1936, while a studying to become a grocer. His career was interrupted by military service and time as a prisoner of war in Danzig. Returning to Cologne, he returned to play and also began his studies in sport at the Sporthochschule in Cologne in 1947. When his club merged to form the new club 1 FC Köln, he was selected as the player coach, leading them into the new Oberliga West (at that time the top level in Germany). Fired in 1952, after failing to qualify for the German Championship playoffs, he moved to a smaller team and then in 1955 became a teacher at the Sporthochschule (which position he held until 1970). The coaches academy there was named for him in 2005. He coached again at 1 FC Köln from 1955 to 1958 and at Viktoria Köln on the other side of the Rhine from 1958 to 1964, without great success. But in 1964 he moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he would earn his fame. Believing in young, fast, offensive-minded players (who would soon be known as "Die Fohlen" or "the Foals"), he built a team that would rise from the lower depths of the second division to the Bundesliga in 1965. From there he was to win the German Championship in 1970, 1971, and 1975, the German Cup in 1973, and the UEFA Cup in 1975. Seeking new challenges he moved to FC Barcelona in 1975, but conflicts with Johann Cryuff led to his leaving after only a year. He then returned once more to his old hometown team in Cologne, leading them to a German Cup in 1977 and then to the double of cup and championship in 1978. In 1979 they reached the semifinals of the European Cup, losing to eventual winners Nottingham Forest. But those days were not to last, as due to conflicts with players he decided to try the United States, and became coach of the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League in 1980, leading them to the NASL championship that year. But a loss next year in the finals to Chicago Sting and further player conflicts led him to move on once again--this time to Grasshoppers Zurich of Switzerland. He would win the Swiss double in with them in 1983, but a heart attack at his residence claimed his life that summer.