Hubert Wagner

See also: Memorial of Hubert Jerzy Wagner

Hubert Wagner
Personal information
Full name	Hubert Aleksander Wagner
Nickname	Jurek, Gruby, Kat
Nationality	Polish
Born	(1941-03-04)4 March 1941 Poznań, Poland
Died	13 March 2002(2002-03-13) (aged 61) Warsaw, Poland
Coaching information
Previous teams coached Years Teams 1973–1976 1977–1985 1978–1979 1983–1985 1986–1987 1987–1988 1991–1993 1994–1995 1996–1997 1996–1998 1997–1998 1997–1999 1999–2000 Poland Legia Warsaw Poland (W) Poland Filament Bursa Tunisia Halkbank Ankara Stilon Gorzów Wielkopolski Skra Warsaw (W) Poland Dick Black Andrychów (W) Morze Bałtyk Szczecin Legia Warsaw
Career
Years Teams 000000000 AZS Poznań AZS AWF Warsaw Skra Warsaw
National team
1963–1971 Poland (194)
Honours Men's volleyball Representing Poland CEV European Championship 1967 Turkey Head coach Poland Olympic Games 1976 Montreal FIVB World Championship 1974 Mexico CEV European Championship 1975 Yugoslavia 1983 East Germany Head coach Tunisia CAVB African Championship 1987 Tunisia

Hubert Aleksander Wagner (a.k.a. Hubert Jerzy Wagner) (4 March 1941 – 13 March 2002) was a Polish volleyball player and coach. He was a member of the Poland national team from 1963 to 1971, a participant in the Mexico 1968 Olympics, and a bronze medallist at the 1967 European Championship. As a head coach, he led Poland to become the 1974 World Champions and the 1976 Olympic Champions.

Personal life

Wagner was born in Poznań. His parents were Romuald and Zofia (née Kotlińska). He had two younger siblings, Elżbieta (born 1946) and Leszek.

Wagner was married twice. On 15 October 1963, he married Danuta Kordaczuk, an Olympic medal winning volleyball player with medals in the World and European Championships. The couple had one son, Grzegorz Wagner (born 1965), a professional volleyball setter and coach. The couple divorced in 1978.

In 1979, he married Anna Baraniecka. In the last two years of his life, his partner was Danuta Marzec. He had three grandchildren: Iwo (born 1991), who played as a setter and is now a scout; Jakub (born 1993), who is also a volleyball player; and Sara (born 2003).

Coaching

In 1973, he became head coach of the Polish men's national volleyball team at 32 years old. He was demanding and greatly valued physical preparation of his players. In 1974, he led the team to win the Volleyball Men's World Championship. In the subsequent year, they won silver in the European Championship 1975 held in Yugoslavia.

On 30 July 1976, the national men's volleyball team became the 1976 Olympic Champions. Despite Polish volleyball players spending 11 and a half hours on the court while their opponents only spent five hours, Wagner's team still beat the Soviet Union in a tie-break. Two months after this success, he left the national team.

Honours

As a player

• Domestic
  • 1962–63 Polish Championship, with AZS AWF Warsaw
  • 1964–65 Polish Championship, with AZS AWF Warsaw
  • 1965–66 Polish Championship, with AZS AWF Warsaw
  • 1967–68 Polish Championship, with AZS AWF Warsaw

As a coach

• Domestic
  • 1982–83 Polish Championship, with Legia Warsaw
  • 1991–92 Turkish Championship, with Halkbank Ankara
  • 1992–93 Turkish Championship, with Halkbank Ankara

Death

On 13 March 2002, after a meeting with the Polish Association of Volleyball in Warsaw, Wagner suffered a car accident triggered by a heart attack. Despite rapid resuscitation, he died. An autopsy showed advanced coronary artery disease. He was buried at the Northern Communal Cemetery in Warsaw.

Legacy

The Memorial of Hubert Jerzy Wagner is an annual three-day volleyball tournament with four national teams invited by Poland held since 2003.

Wagner was admitted to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Five schools and two sports arenas in Poland are named after him.

External links

• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hubert Wagner". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2015-10-16.