Erhard "Sepp" Wunderlich (14 December 1956 – 4 October 2012) was a German

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player. Wunderlich was born in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. As a member of the West German handball team, he won the

1978 World Men's Handball Championship The 1978 World Men's Handball Championship was the ninth team handball World Championship. It was held in Denmark between 26 January-5 February 1978. West Germany won the championship. Teams Preliminary round Group A Group B , - , ...

and the silver medal at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

. At the latter tournament he played all six matches and scored 22 goals. He played club handball for the

VfL Gummersbach VfL Gummersbach is a handball club from the Germany, German city of Gummersbach. Currently, VfL Gummersbach competes in the Handball-Bundesliga and the DHB-Pokal. Gummersbach is one of the most successful team-handball clubs ever. Crest, colo ...

from 1976 to 1983 when he left to join

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. He later returned to Germany to play for the

TSV Milbertshofen TSV Milbertshofen is a sports club based in Milbertshofen a suburb in the north of Munich, Germany. The club, which can trace its history back to , achieved its greatest successes in handball, volleyball, table tennis and football. Other sports ...

. During his club career he won four European Cups and two German Championships. In 1999 he was voted German Handballer of the Century. He died, aged 55, in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

of skin cancer.Handball-Welt trauert um Erhard Wunderlich
kicker.de, published: 8 October 2012, accessed: 10 October 2012 He was buried in his home town

, as was his last wish, on 10 October 2012.Der letzte Wunsch
''

Augsburger Allgemeine The ''Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1945. History From 1807 to 1882, another paper named '' Allgemeine Zeitung'' was published in Augsburg but it is not connected to the later newspap ...

'', published: 11 October 2012, accessed: 13 October 2012

References

External links

* 1956 births 2012 deaths German male handball players German expatriates in Spain FC Barcelona Handbol players Handball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players of West Germany Olympic silver medalists for West Germany Olympic medalists in handball Sportspeople from Augsburg Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics {{Germany-handball-Olympic-medalist-stub