Werner Baßler

Werner Baßler (2 October 1921 – 21 October 1999) was a German footballer who played as a forward.

Werner Baßler
Personal information
Full name Werner Baßler
Date of birth (1921-10-02)2 October 1921
Place of birth Trippstadt, Germany
Date of death 21 October 1999(1999-10-21) (aged 78)
Place of death Germany
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1. FC Kaiserslautern
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1938–1942 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1942–1944 Holstein Kiel 2+ (3+)
1944–1951 1. FC Kaiserslautern (199)
1951–1953 VfR Mannheim (22+)
1953–1957 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1957–1960 VfR Kaiserslautern 22+ (39+)
Total 295+ (263+)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Baßler's footballing career started at the youth side of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he played with Fritz Walter and Richard Schneider. Werner was a multi-talented athlete who played handball, track, field and he also cycled.

Career

Gauliga

In 1938 he appeared in the first team of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In the 1939/1940 season were the champions of the Saarpfalz region in the Gauliga Südwest, however couldn't advance to the finals of the German Championship, after losing 4:7 on aggregate to Kickers Offenbach. In the 1941/1942 Gauliga Westmark season, Werner scored 21 goals. For the first time 1. FC Kaiserslautern advanced to the German Championship. On May 10, 1942, 1. FC Kaiserslautern beat SV Waldhof Mannheim 7:1 with Werner scoring a goal.[1] Unfortunately 1. FC Kaiserslautern could not progress further, as they lost 3:9, on aggregate, to a Schalke side that boasted the likes of Fritz Szepan and Ernst Kuzorra.[2]

Werner was drafted into the navy in 1942 and would play as a war-guest for Holstein Kiel for two seasons. He would play just a few more games for 1. FC Kaiserslautern before the introduction of the Oberliga

Oberliga

Werner's first game in the Oberliga came against Phoenix Ludwigshafen, Werner scored 3 in a 10–0 victory. Up until 1950/1951, 1. FC Kaiserslautern would win four Oberliga Sudwest championships. 1947/1948 was a great year for 1. FC Kaiserslautern, as they won the championship with a 151:18 ratio of goals scored to goals conceded. Werner ended up with 28 goals in the championship, which put him in 4th place. First place was none other than teammate Ottmar Walter with 51 goals. The next season would be even better for Werner as he totalled a record 54 goals for 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The following season Baßler scored another 45 goals, equal to Ottmar Walter. In 1951, Baßler finished with 25 goals, behind Ottmar Walter, who scored 28 goals. In 1951, together with the 1. FC Kaiserslautern team, he was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf[3][4]

In the Oberliga Südwest he played 215 games from 1945 to 1957, scoring 226 goals. Baßler played his last competitive game for the Red Devils in the final round of 1957 on June 9 in Hannover, against the defending champions Borussia Dortmund, when Lautern lost 2-3 goals in front of 75,000 spectators, he had to deal with the 23-year-old Borussia left winger Helmut Kapitulski.

Later life

Baßler was employed as a construction mechanic by the sewing machine manufacturer Pfaff in Kaiserslautern and, after his return from Mannheim, also ran a lottery and pools acceptance point. According to his own records, Baßler scored at least 1388 goals during his career.[5]

References
  1. Lorenz Knieriem, Torjäger, AGON Sportverlag, 2005, Seite 161, ISBN 3-89784-264-5
  2. German championship 1942 – Round of sixteen (in German) Weltfussball.de, accessed: 26 December 2015.
  3. Grüber, Walter (2011). Fußball-Torjägerstatistik Deutschland [Goal scorer statistics Germany] (in German). BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 9783844862485. Retrieved 13 January 2016 – via google book review.
  4. BT-Drucksache 7/1040, page 58, retrieved 7 February 2017 (pdf)
  5. Werner Skrentny, Teufelsangst vorm Erbsenberg, Die Geschichte der Oberliga Südwest 1946–1963, S. 26.
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