Germany pays its respects to Walter
Sunday, June 23, 2002
Article summary
A crowd of 8,000 people gathered in Kaiserslautern on Sunday to pay their respects to Fritz Walter.
Article body
A crowd of 8,000 people gathered in Kaiserslautern today to pay their respects to Fritz Walter, West Germany's 1954 FIFA World Cup-winning captain, who died on Monday, aged 81.
'Big idol'
German Football Association (DFB) president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder flew back from Korea especially for the service at 1. FC Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter-Stadion, where club chairman Jürgen Friedrich said: "Fritz Walter was and is a big idol for the youth, because after his career he also acted always faultlessly."
'Extraordinary sportsman'
German home secretary Otto Schily said: "We lament a big idol and an extraordinary sportsman. The victory in the World Cup against Hungary was a triumph for coach Sepp Herberger and his skipper Fritz Walter, who gave people in post-war Germany euphoria and enthusiasm. Walter was a symbol of the post-war period. The whole country gained new energy from that victory to bring to the making of the new democratic Germany." The funeral for the 'Hero of Berne' takes place tomorrow.
