Eat.
The district mourns the loss of Hans Tilkowski. The ex-goalkeeper died at the age of 84. He played for Herne and BVB. An obituary.
–
Often Hans Tilkowski did not wait for the end of the question when he was addressed on the street. “It wasn’t there,” he muttered instead, in his direct manner, which distinguished him like his skills on the goal line.
He was asked thousands of times about that goal, the most controversial in football history, that has accompanied him for much of his life. That made Tilkowski a legend. That created a great friendship. This one goal by Geoff Hurst decided the 1966 World Cup final, Germany lost 2: 4 to England after extra time. Since then, fans have longed for an answer whether the ball slapped on or behind the line after Tilkowski had previously pushed it to the crossbar.
Hans Tilkowski died on Sunday at the age of 84 after a long illness.
First striker, then on the line
But of course Hans Tilkowski was much more than the goalkeeper who conceded the Wembley goal. Born in Dortmund, dived through the air for Westfalia Herne in the Oberliga West. In 1965 he was awarded the title of “Footballer of the Year” as the first goalkeeper, and in 1966 he won the European Cup Winners’ Cup with Borussia Dortmund. Later, when the goalkeeper gloves and the flat cap were long stowed in the closet, he collected donations for the needy. He was a friendly companion of the Hans Tilkowski School in Herne. He was awarded the First Class Federal Cross of Merit in 2008. The legend of the Ruhr region always propagated a message: The area had to move closer together to stand for its strength.
Hans Tilkowski’s journey began in the middle of the darkest chapter in German history. He was born in Dortmund in 1935 and grew up there as the son of a miner in the Husen suburb. While the Ruhr area, which had been bombed by the war, gradually got stuck, Tilkowski preferred to devote his time to the dark brown leather balls at that time. From 1946 he played for SV Husen. Only as a striker, but when the actual number one was missing, Tilkowski stood in the gate. And stayed there. He landed at Westfalia Herne via SuS Kaiserau and fought for the German championship with the traditional club that had long since slipped. From 1963 the trained steel fitter switched to BVB. Now the titles followed. Tilkowski no longer only held balls, but also the DFB Cup in 1965 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1966. At that time he was considered a modern goalkeeper, prudent, prudent.
