“Mister TUSEM Essen”: Klaus Schorn is dead

“Mister TUSEM Essen”
Klaus Schorn is dead

Three German championships, three cup wins, three European Cup titles: As manager, Klaus Schorn made TUSEM Essen one of the most successful clubs in German handball. Now the former official has died at the age of 88.

German handball mourns the loss of one of its most influential figures. Klaus Schorn died on Friday at the age of 88, as did TUSEM Essen on his site communicated. The former manager made the club one of the strongest clubs in German handball in the 1980s and 1990s and led the club from the Ruhr area through the most successful period in its history.

“Generations of TUSEM handball players, trainers and companions in the TUSEM handball management have a lot to thank Klaus Schorn for,” Managing Director Niels Ellwanger is quoted as saying in the official statement. “We at TUSEM are saddened by his death, keep him, the time we spent together and the experiences with him in good memory and pay tribute to his lifetime achievements with the utmost respect.”

TUSEM, the gymnastics and sports club Essen-Margarethenhöhe, won three German championships (1986, 1987, 1989) and the DHB Cup three times (1988, 1991, 1992) during the Schorn era. Internationally, the club celebrated successes in the European Cup Winners’ Cup (1989), in the Euro City Cup (1994) and also its last major title by winning the EHF Cup in 2005.

“Klaus Schorn was a guy with rough edges, always helpful and always correct,” said Mark Schober, CEO of the German Handball Association (DHB), the deceased at the official association website. “Klaus Schorn was a father of the Handball Bundesliga and was one of the most influential personalities in German handball for decades with enormous commitment.”

Schorn offended, but was also social and reliable

According to the DHB announcement, Schorn joined the TUSEM at the age of twelve, he had already taken on his first positions at the age of 14 and thus promoted handball in Essen since the mid-1970s – and the “time of his life as a committed volunteer”, says the DHB. “Mister TUSEM Essen” refers to the “West German General Newspaper” the man who has now died “after a serious illness”. “Schorn followed his path straight and, if necessary, with his elbows” according to the WAZ “and offended often enough because he could get uncomfortable.” But also as “social and reliable”, who always worked to find solutions when someone in the club had a problem.

Always full commitment.

Great players such as the current national coach Alfred Gislason, the former national player Jochen Fraatz or the 2007 world champion Oliver Roggisch played for the TUSEM in the Schorn era. The period of success ended abruptly after the European Cup victory in 2005, when the club had to file for bankruptcy and be forced to relegate to the third division. The WAZ obituary states that Schorn, the “shrewd manager”, was “caught by a fraudster in financial distress,” which hit him deeply. “After that, the boss didn’t go to a single game with the first team, only showed up with the youngsters.”

Until his death, he maintained contact with his club, of which he had meanwhile become honorary president. TUSEM is currently playing in the 2nd Bundesliga, the Essen team last returned to the 1st division for a year in the 2020/21 season. After his death, not only the club mourns Schorn, who “in his life made an incomparable commitment to TUSEM and achieved great things”, as TUSEM Managing Director Niels Ellwanger sums it up.

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