Heinz Henschel (27 January 1920 – 21 October 2006) was a German

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player, sports administrator, and banker. He played for 24 seasons and won two German championships as a member of the Berliner Schlittschuhclub. He later became a banker involved in sports and entertainment. He was the founder of multiple sporting associations and served as president of the German Ice Sport Federation. He was the leader of German delegations at

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

and a member of the

German Olympic Sports Confederation The German Olympic Sports Confederation (, DOSB) was founded on 20 May 2006 by a merger of the ''Deutscher Sportbund'' (DSB), and the ''Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland'' (NOK) which dates back to 1895, the year it was founded a ...

. His career was recognized by induction into both the IIHF Hall of Fame and the German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.

Early life

Henschel was born 27 January 1920 in Berlin, Germany. He attended the gymnasium in Lankwitz, began playing ice hockey at age nine, then organized a student team at the school by age ten.

Career

Henschel played the forward position in his ice hockey career, which lasted 24 seasons from 1932 to 1956 and included two national championships as a member of the Berliner Schlittschuhclub. Other clubs he played for included Berliner EV 1898, LTTC Red-White Berlin, Prussia Berlin, and SC Brandenburg. Henschel also had a career as a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

er. He was forced to close his bank in

Steglitz Steglitz () is a boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is derived from the Slavic languages, Slavic name for the European goldfinch, similar to the German . ...

due to investment losses in the Berlin Sportpalast. He was unable to revive his former home arena as a profitable entertainment venue, and had amassed debt due to borrowing more than a half million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

s in a five-year lease. Henschel later turned his efforts towards hockey diplomacy and sports administration. He attended the 1947 Ice Hockey World Championships and was successful in negotiating the return of the German Ice Hockey Association into the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

(IIHF) membership, and also the Germany men's national ice hockey team's participation in future

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the I ...

. He later negotiated the entry of the German Ice Hockey Federation into the IIHF to represent

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Henschel helped establish several associations to oversee sports in Berlin and in Germany. He was involved in setting up the Berlin Ice Sport Federation, the Berlin Regional Sport Federation, the German Ice Sport Federation, and the German Ice Hockey Federation. He served as president of the German Ice Sport Federation from 1963 to 1988, was president of the German Ice Sports Federation from 1992 and 1994, and also served as an executive member of the German Sports Federation (GSF). As a member of the GSF, he was a founder of the German Ice Hockey Museum. Henschel was the chief organizer of the 1983 World Ice Hockey Championships hosted by West Germany. In 2003, he organized the 20th anniversary of the game between the West German team and East German team at the 1983 championships at the Westfalenhallen in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

. Regarding the event, he said that "the game is intended to express the memory and joy that today we all belong to one federation and after the match we will spend a cozy evening together". Henschel was the leader of the German delegations at eight

, and the national team at 27 Ice Hockey World Championships. As a member of the

, he acted as Chef de Mission for West Germany at the 1984 Winter Olympics.

Later life and honors

Henschel was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2003, in the builder category, and was also inducted into German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame. He was made an honorary member of the German Ice Hockey Federation, the German Ice Sport Federation, and the Berlin Ice Sport Association. Henschel died on 21 October 2006 in Berlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henschel, Heinz 1920 births 2006 deaths 20th-century German businesspeople Businesspeople from Berlin German bankers German ice hockey executives German ice hockey forwards German sports executives and administrators Germany men's national ice hockey team executives Ice hockey people from Berlin IIHF Hall of Fame inductees People from Lichterfelde (Berlin)