American Football aktuell - Class of 2024 selected

Class of 2024 elected

The football fans in Germany and the jury have decided: Eric Grützenbach, Joachim Ullrich and Kirk Heidelberg will be inducted into the AFVD Football Hall of Fame as the three members of the Class of 2024.

Eric Grützenbach is one of the original pioneers of American football in Germany. As a player, he was quarterback for the Bonn Jets from 1982 to 1988, leading them to the 1st Bundesliga in 1983 and to the quarter-finals of the German championship three times. At the same time, he worked as head coach of the youth team, with whom he also reached the quarter-finals. After the club moved and was renamed Troisdorf, the Jets took over the position of head coach of the men’s team for over 20 years and won the NRW Cup four times. He also worked as an official and was involved for 16 years as managing director and for 18 years as president of the club, which at the end of his term of office this year has four youth teams, each of which competes in the highest possible league.

Joachim Ullrich also played quarterback. He began his career in 1992 in the Hanau Hawks youth team and in 1995 moved to the men’s team in the 1st Bundesliga, where he played for four years. After brief stints with the Aschaffenburg Stallions and Rüsselsheim Razorbacks, he ended up with the Marburg Mercenaries in 2001, where he played until the end of his active career in 2012. During this time he made five semifinal appearances and was runner-up in the German championship, as well as winning two EFAF CUPs and a EuroBowl runner-up. From 1997 to 2011 he played for the German national team, with whom he won the World Games in 2005 and came second in the European Championships and third in the World Championships twice. In 1999 he was also part of the Frankfurt Galaxy squad in the NFL Europe. In addition to and after his active career, he worked as a coach and TV commentator for 20 years.

The third in the group is Kirk Heidelberg, one of the most successful coaches in the history of German football. The American coached a number of high schools before joining the Hamburg Blue Devils for the first time in 1995 via the University of Toledo, where he reached the final of the German championship. After a brief return to the USA, he returned to Hamburg in 1997 before taking over the position of head coach of the Cologne Crocodiles from 1998 to 2002, with whom he became German champions in 2000. He achieved the same feat with the Hamburg Blue Devils in 2003 during his third stay in the Hanseatic city. After a year as head coach of the Saarland Hurricanes in 2005, he returned to the States for several years before becoming head coach of the Crocodiles again in 2015. This was followed by stints with the Hamburg Huskies as well as the Cologne Centurions and Hamburg Sea Devils in the ELF. He is currently the head coach of the Oldstars Germany and the run game coordinator of the Dutch national team.

Schlüter – 18.09.2024

The German American Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024.