Helmut Pestinger wrote a long letter to his former teammate and friend Hubert Herbinger on his 70th birthday.
Herrsching experts and alumni agree: Hubert Herbinger was one of the best strikers to ever wear the TSV Herrsching football shirt. Now confined to a wheelchair, he is celebrating his 70th birthday today in the Gilchinger Rotkreuzhaus. At the Starnberger Merkur his former teammate Helmut Pestinger congratulates.
“Dear Hubert!
First of all, on behalf of your former teammates from TSV Herrsching from the 1970s, I would like to congratulate you on your 70th birthday. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a huge strain on our planning because we had planned a birthday reception on the Holy Mountain in Andechs. However, this has not been canceled, it has only been postponed to a later date.
You were one of the best! Together with Hans-Peter Haberkorn, Hacky Köhler, Hermann Pöltl and the sadly deceased Dieter Harpke - you were rightly called the heavenly climbers of the Ammersee. Surely you can still remember exactly how TSV mastered the march from the former C-class to the state league. And you played a major part in this great success.
In the first year we became champions in the district league straight away and then had to play a promotion game against Untermenzing in Unterpfaffenhofen. Under our then coach Ernst Herrmann, who can rightly be called the father of our successes, we achieved a 4: 4 in the first game in front of over 4000 spectators against the big favorites. I think of your three goals, even though you were severely handicapped by a knee injury. You held out to the end and thus set an example: We won't let ourselves get down. And the opponent also knew that an injured Herbinger is still dangerous. We then decided the second game in Fürstenfeldbruck 3-2 for us, legendary Carlo Kelch's winning goal shortly before the end of the game. And you met there too. The climb was perfect!
You then went to the amateurs of FC Bayern Munich, and we were all sure that one day you would play in the Bundesliga. But various injuries threw you back, and that's how you ended up at SpVgg Starnberg after this guest appearance. Here you met two of the former TSV team with Rudi Fuchs and me. We had a prominent trainer back then, Kurt Schwarzhuber, who also trained in Munich in 1860.
You started out in the Herrsching student team, then you switched to youth and then came the great success with the senior citizens of the TSV. You can say that your footballing life was marked by successes, but you also had to accept a number of injuries. As Werner Hager once said: 'Unimaginable if we'd all stayed together.' This is just an excerpt from a wonderful football era.
We can all proudly say, without being arrogant: You are a wonderful friend.
Happy Birthday, Hubert, and see you soon in Andechs!
Your Helmut. "