To write something about werner hansch is difficult. Werner hansch must be heard. The man has a voice that you do not forget. One that has burned in many football fans, as a background for certain pictures. Schalke’s UEFA cup triumph in milan’s san siro stadium in 1997, borussia dortmund’s golden nineties of the last millennium, BVB’s two championship titles under ottmar hitzfeld. That was his rough time. Hansch was a television reporter for sat.1 for the jubilation. He was the voice of the ruhrpot back then.
Today, the sports reporter is 74 years old and retired, or at least that’s pretty much the case. He hardly ever appears on television. But he is still known, hansch. Also here in rottendorf, where he came on invitation of the SPD local association. Nevertheless it did not become particularly full. About 30 people have come to be entertained by the man with the familiar voice and the chummy ruhrpott idiom. He can still do that quite well. He is the reporter who – and this is no exaggeration – was the first to use the expression "awesome" in a sports broadcast. The first "awesome goal", told hansch in rottendorf, fell in nurnberg. It was scored – what a coincidence – by the current coach of greuther furth mike buskens (hansch: "a wonderful person") for schalke against the club by aubenrist. "What a cool gate. I don’t think I’ve ever expressed the genius of a moment more aptly," he still says today.
And so hansch whimsically recounts his journey from the miners’ settlement in recklinghausen to the microphones in the arenas. About his beginnings on the trotting track, how he became the stadium announcer for schalke 04 completely unsuspectingly and announced goalkeeper norbert nigbur "with the starting number one" during his first assignment. And – that’s when it got thoughtful – about his old friend rudi assauer. "He’s on his way to another world," says hansch thoughtfully. At the beginning of november, he will again visit the former schalke manager, who is suffering from alzheimer’s and made this public last year: "but i’m no longer sure whether he perceives me as werner hansch."Hansch appeared at events together with assauer. The two made program together. In november 2010, assauer told his friend for the first time about his poor memory. Shortly thereafter there was the certainty: it is alzheimer’s disease. The thoughtful end of an entertaining evening, over which stands one question. Werner hansch in rottendorf, on the day of the rude derby schalke vs. Dortmund – how does that work??
"I’ve certainly seen 30 of these derbies, and the vast majority of them were really cruel to watch," says hansch, who was lured to the county municipality by an old friend, a fellow rottendorfer. But a schalker 2:1 victory in dortmund, now that does sound interesting. "It was incredibly important for schalke," says hansch.