From the district league to the Bundesliga – the founder of the Melsunger handball promotion has died

The MT Melsungen handball family and the Melsung gymnastics community mourn Herbert Rausch. The long-time volunteer manager and former savings bank director died on December 4th at the age of 84.

Barbara Braun-Lüdicke, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of MT Spielbetriebs- und Marketing AG: “With Herbert Rausch we are losing a passionate and ambitious pioneer of Melsung handball. The success story of our MT will forever remain inseparably linked to his name. After every sporting stage he reached, he set his sights on a new goal, determined and persistent, from the district league to the Bundesliga. He had an inimitable ability to inspire his fellow human beings and motivate them to support the club. His enormous commitment was ultimately groundbreaking for the development of MT handball as a whole. Without Herbert Rausch we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

And that’s how it all began: The first men’s team played in the district league in the mid-70s. The desire to make it further up was there, but there was obviously a lack of someone who could better organize the team and its environment and drive development forward in a targeted manner. So friends persuaded Herbert Rausch, actually a district league footballer who was working ambitiously at Melsunger Sparkasse, to join the handball team.

The first successes soon began to appear under his leadership. He gradually managed to bring talented players from the region and players with higher level experience as well as competent coaches to Melsungen. In the mid-eighties, the MT celebrated the district championship and promotion to the top league. There had been a boost shortly before with the construction of the Melsung city sports hall.

In 1987 the handball players won the Hesse championship and were promoted to the regional league. The secret of success behind this development consisted of two pillars. On the one hand, from the extremely skilful all-round management by Herbert Rausch, who took care of everything important, from player contracts to sponsorship and financing to organization and, on top of that, represented the club as league chairman in the association. The second pillar was the so-called Melsung model, which offered the players good prospects with training and jobs even after their active career.

The personnel feats under the aegis of Herbert Rausch undoubtedly included the signings of internationally experienced players such as Sandor Balogh (Hungary) and Alexander Fölker (Romania) and Markus Hütt (Gummersbach) as well as the two talents from the Magdeburg handball school, René Krüger and André Sperl. They all formed the backbone of the team that was later promoted to League Two.

The Southwest Championship followed in 1991, but they initially narrowly failed in three relegation games. But neither the team nor Herbert Rausch let that stop them. At the end of the following season, the team, which again became Southwest champions, took advantage of their opportunity, made everything clear after two playoff games and achieved a real milestone with promotion to the 2nd Handball Bundesliga. The team and manager (photo below, 1st row, 3rd from left) had reached the goal of their dreams.

But the hunger for success was not yet satisfied. Although it would take 13 years until the next quantum leap was achieved with promotion to the First Bundesliga in 2005. The highlight of this era was the qualification for the final round of the DHB Cup in 1996, after MT, as an underdog, had pushed three first division teams out of the competition in a row.

13 years after promotion to the Second Bundesliga, the team made it to the upper house in 2005. Karl Reinbold (left) and Herbert Rausch, the congenial duo behind the scenes, brought the club flag with them to celebrate the day.

Herbert Rausch Herbert Rausch, who had now gathered a handful of committed colleagues around him who shared the increasingly extensive tasks, continued to stay on the ball with a lot of hard work and passion. He supported the club with his great experience and his extensive network in business and sport also in the following years, moved from the operational level to the club’s supervisory board. Herbert Rausch was a member until the end as an honorary advisory member. After almost 50 years, this marks the end of the voluntary work of a man who once tried to get MT handball out of the district league. And then led him to the Bundesliga.

Herbert Rausch knew how to approach people and infect them with his passion for handball. (All photos: H. Hartung)

Next Sunday, the MT team will start the top game of the LIQUI MOLY Handball Bundesliga against SC Magdeburg (3:00 p.m., Rothenbach-Halle Kassel – sold out) with a minute’s silence and wear mourning ribbon.