Peter Grosser is dead: SpVgg Unterhaching mourns its pioneer

Munich football is mourning one of its greatest.

Peter Grosser, captain of the TSV 1860 Munich championship team from 1966, died yesterday at the age of 82.

Grosser also left deep marks on SpVgg Unterhaching.

"The way from amateur sport to the Bundesliga will forever be associated with the name Peter Grosser," said SpVgg President Manfred Schwabl.

Unterhaching - Peter Grosser was one of the greatest dribblers of his time.

What is becoming more and more difficult and rare today in top international football due to its dynamism and speed, was mastered perfectly by the sophisticated technician, who was born in Munich on September 28, 1938: duping his opponents in the smallest of spaces.

Back then they said: play on a beer mat.

However, Grosser did not have his footballing roots with the Löwen, but with MTV 1879 Munich, from where he moved to FC Bayern in 1956.

There he became a youth and amateur national player before moving up to the first team in 1958.

Twice he was even called up for the senior national team, but was not used.

After FC Bayern missed the qualification for the newly founded Bundesliga, Grosser moved to the Löwen in 1963 after 134 appearances and 65 goals for Bayern.

There, coach Max Merkel quickly appointed him captain, when he led TSV 1860 to the club's only German championship title in 1966 (see the national sports section of this issue).

After his time in Munich, Grosser moved to Austria for SV Austria Salzburg.

By the end of his career in 1975 he had played 164 first division games there, 32 times he was celebrated as a goalscorer.

After his playing career, the master lion hit the coaching career and became coach of SpVgg Unterhaching in 1977.

The people from the suburbs had just made it out of the A-class (today's district league) and played in the district league at that time.

Grosser led the club as a coach up to the Bavarian League, which was the third highest division at the time (in which the Hachinger team are still playing now).

From 1990 to 2011 he was also Vice President and thus also stood for the successful Bundesliga time in Unterhaching.

Grosser volunteered as a referee supervisor in the club until 2018.

Two tragic blows of fate also fell during his time in Unterhaching.

Both sons died at a young age.

In 1979 Peter was killed in a traffic accident, in 2008 his second son Thomas suffered cardiac arrest while playing indoor soccer in Unterhaching.

Nevertheless, he always remained closely connected to the SpVgg even in the difficult hours.

-President Manfred Schwabl is deeply affected by the sudden death of the club legend: “The SpVgg is deeply dismayed by his death and loses one of the most important faces of the club with him.

Peter Grosser has shaped and promoted the club for many years as a trainer, vice-president and as a personality.

He left a deep mark on us.

Thank you, Peter. "