Hermann Gunnarsson commonly referred to by his nickname, Hemmi Gunn, was an Icelandic television and radio personality, performer and former football and handball player at an international level. Hermann is known as one of Iceland's greats both in football and handball. He also played basketball at club level, but never played a national game in that sport.
Media personality
Hermann is also famous for hosting the top-rated talk showÁ tali hjá Hemma Gunn on the publicTV channelSjónvarpið for many years in the 1980s and 1990s. The show still remains one of the highest rated shows in Icelandic television history. After spending several years away from the spotlight from the late 1990s until the early 2000s he returned to television in 2005 to host a musical game show on Stöð 2. In fall 2006 he started a new weekly talk show on Stöð 2. Hermann has also released musical albums, hosted a radio show on Bylgjan among other activities. He spent some years in Thailand during his break from the media.
Football career
Hermann was one of Iceland's top football players in the 1960s and 70s and played with the national football team. He played 14 official matches, scoring 4 goals, 4 matches against amateur sides, scoring 2 goals and 2 games against the Spanish amateur team in an Olympic qualifier, not scoring in those matches. Hermann played with Víkingur R. until he was 10 years old, when he switched to Valur. One summer he scored 62 goals in 15 games for their youth team. Hermann started his senior career in 1963 with Valur, where he played until 1968, when he moved to Austria to play as a professional with SC Eisenstadt, the third Icelander to play as a professional footballer, after Albert Guðmundsson and Þórólfur Beck. He returned home after 6 months, refusing offers from Austria and West Germany. In the 1967–68 European Cup, when Valur reached the last 16, he was 5th-7th in the top scorer list, scoring 4 goals, after having jointly-lead with 3 goals after 2 matches with George Best and Paul van Himst. In 1970, he played with and managed ÍBA, but returned to Valur before the 1971 season where he spent the remainder of his career, retiring before the 1977 Úrvalsdeild season to become a sports reporter. In total Hermann scored 95 times in the Úrvalsdeild, 81 times with Valur and 14 times with ÍBA. Hermann was top scorer of the Úrvalsdeild three times, in 1967 with Valur, in 1970 with ÍBA and in 1973 with Valur. In 1970 he was the player-manager of ÍBA, 23 years old, the youngest manager in the history of the Úrvalsdeild. The club finished 6th out of 8 teams that year.
Handball career
Hermann also represented the Icelandic national handball team, scoring 45 goals in 15 matches. He claimed in an interview in 1977 to be the world-record holder for goals scored in a national handball game, as he scored 17 goals when Iceland won the United States 41–17 in 1966.
