Emil Beck


Emil Beck was a German fencing coach.

Biography

Emil Beck was born in Tauberbischofsheim, in the Main-Tauber-District of Baden-Württemberg in Germany on 12 July 1935. The former hairdresser Emil Beck began in the mid 1950s with fencing. Fencing scenes from the movie The Three Musketeers had impressed the young man. In 1954 Emil Beck was the "founding father" of the Fencing-Club Tauberbischofsheim. He created a school of fencing sometimes referred to as the "German school" since Beck's influence on German fencing was profound. As a fencing coach, Beck was largely self-taught.
Considering Becks medal success, he is one of the most successful coaches in the world. Beck coined the reputation of the Fencing-Club Tauberbischofsheim in the 1970s as "Tauberbischofsheimer goldsmith" and "Mecca of fencing".
Beck trained fencers such as Matthias Behr, Alexander Pusch and Anja Fichtel. At the height of his career, the German fencers Anja Fichtel, Sabine Bau and Zita Funkenhauser – all from the FC Tauberbischofsheim – won gold, silver and bronze in foil at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Beck was succeeded as German fencing team leader by Matthias Behr.
12 March 2006 Emil Beck died of heart failure.

Honours

Some quotes of famous personalities about Beck illustrate his life's work at the Fencing-Club Tauberbischofsheim:
The honorary president of the German Fencing Association, Gordon Rapp, paid tribute to Becks commitment as:

Works