Ernest Wilimowski
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Ernest Otton Wilimowski (German: Ernst Otto Willimowski, nickname: “Ezi”) was an outstanding Polish-German football player, regarded as one of the best goalscorers in the history of both the Polish national team and in Polish club soccer. He will always be remembered as the first player to score four goals in a single FIFA World Cup game. Wilimowski also occasionally played ice hockey for the team Pogoń Katowice.
Born on 23 June 1916 in Kattowitz, Germany (now Katowice, Poland) as Ernest Otton Pradella, he was raised in a Silesian family, typical of the Polish-German borderland. His father Ernst-Roman died on the Western Front in the First World War and his mother Paulina re-married. At the age of 13 he was legally adopted by his stepfather and took on the surname Wilimowski. At home, he spoke German for the most part, while at school and outside of the house he spoke a Silesian dialect of the Polish language. After the war officially a citizen of Poland, he referred to himself as "Gornoslazak" - Oberschlesier (Upper-Silesian).
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[edit] Early years
[edit] Ruch Chorzów
Wilimowski played on the left side as a forward and showed himself to be a very skilled dribbler as well as a natural goalscorer. He began his career with the ethnically German side 1. FC Katowice, then in 1933 at the age of 17, moved to Ruch Wielkie Hajduki, known today as Ruch Chorzów. "Ezi" quickly established himself as the team's best player: in his first season he scored 33 goals to lead the league. With such excellent footballers as Teodor Peterek and Gerard Wodarz, both Polish national players, Ruch won championships in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, and 1938.
Wilimowski played 86 games for Ruch, scoring 112 goals, and was the league's top goal getter in 1934 and 1936. He also led the league in scoring in 1939 until the German invasion of Poland interrupted play in the country. On May 21 of that year, he scored 10 goals in a match against Union Touring Łódź as his club won a lopsided 12-1 victory. That performance still stands as a league record.
[edit] Polish national team
Soon after beginning his club football career, “Ezi” earned his first cap for Poland when he debuted against Denmark in København on May 21, 1934 in a 2:4 loss: he was just 17 years and 332 days old. In a total of 22 appearances for Poland Wilimowski netted 21 goals, a pace of nearly a goal a game. However, his off field conduct was less than ideal and in 1936 the young man's penchant for drinking and partying led to a one year suspension imposed by the Polish football association just before the Olympic Games in Berlin. Without his goal scoring touch the Poles managed only a fourth place finish in the Olympic tournament. Many experts felt his presence could have brought the team a gold medal. The onset of war pre-empted the 1942 FIFA World Cup where Wilimowski would have been part of a strong Polish side expected to make a good showing.
Wilimowski's appearances for Poland include two performances that were both historic and memorable.
In a match against Brazil played in Strasbourg, France during the 1938 FIFA World Cup "Ezi" put on a stunning display by becoming the first player ever to score four goals in a single World Cup match. His continued attacks on the opposition net also drew a penalty as he was fouled to the ground by Brazilian keeper Batatais, which led to Poland's fifth goal scored from the spot by Fryderyk Scherfke. Unfortunately, it was not enough - Poland lost the match 5-6 and was eliminated from the tournament.
Wilimowski put on another memorable display on August 27, 1939 in Warsaw in an international friendly against what was then one of the best sides in the world - Hungary, the losing 1938 World Cup finalist. After 33 minutes of play the Hungarians were ahead 2:0. In reply, Wilimowski scored three goals and again drew a penalty through his attacking play which was converted by teammate Leonard Piatek giving Poland a 4:2 win. The match was the last played before the invasion of Poland and the start of World War II just four days later.
[edit] War years
After the division of Poland, Wilimowski took German citizenship and served as a police officer, which helped him avoid other military service. It also allowed him to continue his footballing career as Poles were not permitted to participate in sports under the Nazi occupation. In the early days of the war Wilimowski had to hide from the Nazis because of the emnity of a local NSDAP official named Georg Joschke who held the player's 1933 transfer from the ethnically-German club 1. FC Katowice to the strongly pro-Polish Ruch Chorzow side against him. Allegedly, Joschke threatened that Wilimowski would have to wear the letter "P" (for Pole) on his clothes. This never happened, as Wilimowski was too good a player and well appreciated by other German football officials.
Through the course of the war he played for sides including 1. FC Katowice (1939-1941), Polizei-Sportverein Chemnitz (1940-1942), and TSV 1860 München (1942-1944), where he was a member of the Tschammerpokal (German Cup) winning side of 1942.
For propaganda purposes Nazi sports officials worked to make 1. FC Katowice a model side representative of the German dominated Upper Silesia. The region's best players were assigned to the team and besides Wilimowski included Erwin Nyc, Ewald Dytko and Paweł Cyganek. "Ezi" played there until February 1940, before moving on to Chemnitz, where he took up his role as a policeman while playing for the local team.
[edit] Play for the German national team
Like other officials, Sepp Herberger, manager of the German national team, developed an immediate appreciation for Wilomowski's talent and worked to recruit him for his side. He debuted for Germany against Romania on June 1, 1941, in Bucharest scoring twice in a 4:1 victory. He followed that performance with three goals against Finland in Helsinki on October 5, 1941 as the Germans scored an easy 6:0 win.
The only match Wilomowski ever played in his native Upper Silesia (in Beuthen now Bytom, Poland), whether wearing a Polish or German jersey, was on August 16, 1942 versus the Romanian side. He contributed one goal in a 7:0 win (another German star, Fritz Walter, netted three goals in the contest). The match was the biggest sporting event staged there during the war and 55,000 fans came to cheer on their native son.
Wilomowski's most memorable performance for the German national side came on October 18, 1942 in Bern, Switzerland as the Germans defeated a well-respected Swiss national team by a score of 5:3. "Ezi" scored four of five goals with the other being netted by Fritz Walter.
Wilomowski was capped a total of eight times for Germany, scoring 13 goals (1.63 per match). His last appearance for Germany was in a 5:2 victory over Slovakia in Bratislava on November 22, 1942. After this match Germany no longer played international friendlies because of the war.
[edit] Postwar career
After the war, Wilimowski stayed in Germany and enjoyed a career that lasted until 1959. During this period he played for several German club teams including TSV Detmold, BC Augsburg, FV Offenburg, and VfR Kaiserslautern. Regarded by the Polish government as a traitor, he was not allowed to visit his Silesian homeland. During the FIFA World Cup 1974 in Germany, Wilimowski allegedly wanted to pay a visit to the Polish national team, but was refused permission.
“Ezi” died on August 30, 1997 in Karlsruhe, Germany, leaving behind four daughters.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Biography (Polish)
- [1] (Polish)
- A short movie from Poland's performance on FIFA World Cup France 1938, with Ezi's goal [2] (Polish)
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Poland squad - 1938 FIFA World Cup | |
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FW Baran | GK Brom | FW Cebula | MF Dytko | DF Gałecki | DF Giemsa | MF Góra | FW Habowski | FW Korbas | MF Lis | FW Łyko | GK Madejski | MF Nyc | FW R. Piec | MF W. Piec | FW Piątek | FW Scherfke | DF Szczepaniak | DF Twórz | MF Wasiewicz | FW Wilimowski | FW Wodarz | Coach Kałuża |
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