Beck, Franz Wilhelm

Sports official

Born: 07.10.1900 in Ockenheim (Rheinhessen)

died: 31.07.1978 in Wiesbaden

After training as a teacher, Beck studied history and was eventually offered a position as a lecturer at the Pedagogical Institute in Mainz. He initially worked as a district sports teacher in the Offenbach district before being drafted into the Wehrmacht. He returned from the war seriously wounded and was head of the Office for Physical Education and Youth Care from 1949-65.

The sports halls at Elsässer Platz and the Biebrich sports hall were built under his direction. The recreational area Luft- und Sonnenbad Unter den Eichen found a new place in the city's leisure facilities, as did the area on the Rettbergsaue.

In 1946, Beck was one of the founders of the Hessian Gymnastics Association in Butzbach and was its chairman until 1968. He was also Gauoberturnwart in Hesse, Gauspielwart in Rheinhessen, managing chairman of the German Gymnastics Federation, first chairman of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Sportämter, which he co-founded in 1949, and co-founder of the German Olympic Society (DOG). He was also a member of the International Standards Committee for Gymnastics and Play Equipment and the German Sports Advisory Council.

He was awarded the Carl Diem Prize (1954), the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class (1966) and the Gold Citizens' Medal of the City of Wiesbaden (1976). Beck was honorary chairman of the Hessian Gymnastics Federation and TSG Sonnenberg. In 1980, a memorial stone was unveiled for Beck by the Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald (German Forest Protection Association) at the Jahn oak trees in Bahnholz.