Franz Adolf Louis John (born 28 September 1872 in

Pritzwalk Pritzwalk () is a town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 20 km west of Wittstock, and 33 km northeast of Wittenberge. The river Dömnitz flows through Pritzwalk. History Pritzwalk obtained municipal s ...

, died 17 November 1952 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was a German photographer. He was one of the initiators of the founding of

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

and its first president from 1900 to 1903. He was born on 28 September 1872 in Pritzwalk (

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

), the son of Friedrich Wilhelm and Ida John. After moving with his parents to

Pankow Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. P ...

at the fringe of

, he later joined the football club

VfB Pankow VfB Einheit zu Pankow is a German association football club from the Pankow locality of Berlin. History Founded in 1893 as VfB Pankow, the club's initial interests were in cricket and tennis. Within a few years English expatriates introduced ...

. There he met Gustav Manning, who afterwards became secretary of the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...

. Manning later helped John to integrate the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

football clubs into the

DFB DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback las ...

. After his apprenticeship as a photographer in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

John moved to Munich where he became a member of

MTV 1879 Munich MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. When on 27 February 1900 the steering committee of MTV prohibited the football division of its club to join the association of southgerman football clubs (SFV), eleven football players left the club under the lead of Franz John. In the restaurant ''Gisela'' they founded the '' Munich Football Club Bayern'' and elected Franz John for president. John also founded the council of Bavarian

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

s. Under his lead the club joined the SFV still in its first year and quickly became a force in the Munich football scene. In 1903 John left FC Bayern and was succeeded as president by the Dutch

Willem Hesselink Willem Frederik Hesselink (8 February 1878 – 1 December 1973) was a Dutch football player and one of the founders of local club Vitesse Arnhem in 1892. He was known for his blue woolen cap, which he seemed to wear day and night, and was nickna ...

. John also left Munich in 1904, moving back to Pankow, where he opened a photo laboratory and later became president of his home club

. Despite having few contacts to Munich John was in the 1920s elected as honorary president of the

and in 1936 he received the needle of honour in gold from the club. John died on 17 November 1952 in Pankow aged 80; he had no descendants. Journalist Joachim Rechenberg later traced his lost grave to

Fürstenwalde Fürstenwalde/Spree (; Lower Sorbian: ''Pśibor pśi Sprjewje'') is the most populous town in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, Germany. Geography The town is situated in the glacial valley (''Urstromtal'') of the Spree river north of the R ...

. When in 2000 the FC Bayern celebrated its 100th anniversary, the club recreated the grave and donated a new tombstone to commemorate the merits of Franz John.

References

External links

Prignitzlexikon - Offizielle Biografie von Franz John
{{DEFAULTSORT:John, Franz 1872 births 1952 deaths People from Pankow People from the Province of Brandenburg FC Bayern Munich board members Photographers from Berlin