Franz Baumgartner is a veteran of the Thalheim stick shooters.
Now, after 32 years of full commitment to the club, his era ended.
Maria Thalheim
- Franz Baumgartner has retired as chairman of the Thalheimer Stockschützen.
Baumgartner had contributed as (vice) chairman for 26 years of his time on the board.
Long periods of time also come to an end at some point.
Due to his age, the 73-year-old from Großstürzlham no longer stood for election at the annual general meeting of the Stockschützenverein (SSV) Maria Thalheim.
Most recently, Baumgartner had successfully led the stick shooters in the independent club, which split off from TSV Maria Thalheim in 2015.
Baumgartner has made a significant contribution to the success story of the association.
In mid-1989 the stock shooting department in Thalheim was founded as a new division of the TSV.
The chairman at that time was Hans Sellmaier.
A year later, the athletes submitted the plan to build curling lanes.
In 1991 the ground-breaking ceremony took place for three floor lifts plus a tool shed opposite the fire station.
After 14 months of construction and 1450 hours of voluntary work, the stick shooters celebrated the inauguration of their tracks in the summer of 1992.
At that time there was a festive service, lunch and “an exciting celebrity shooting with Mayor Lambert Bart,” remembers Baumgartner.
A good ten years later, the stick shooters made their way to the building authority again.
They submitted the plans for the construction of a stick shooting hall.
It all started at the beginning of 2003.
100 cubic meters of lumber were bought from farmer Alois Bauer from Hinterbaumberg and boards and formwork were cut from it for the construction of the hall, explains Baumgartner, who is a trained carpenter.
The cost estimate for the hall at that time was 128,000 euros.
But the stick shooters were able to reduce the price significantly through their own contribution.
The total costs after 4,200 voluntarily worked hours amounted to 75,000 euros.
In October 2004, the inauguration of the new Stockbahnhalle was celebrated for a whole weekend, with services, a church procession, live music and celebrity shooting.
Since then, in addition to the sporting competitions, 15 Oktoberfests have also been celebrated in the hall, sometimes with over 300 visitors.
Baumgartner also marketed the hall well with 17 billboards on the boards.
With that he has found a good source of money for the club's coffers.
Unfortunately, there were also negative events in the history of the hall, explains Baumgartner.
"We had major water damage in the parlor twice, which we repaired together," he says.
But that didn't hurt the mood in the club either.
“We managed everything, we always stuck together, that's the only way to push through such projects,” says Baumgartner.
In the summer of 2015, the next big project for the stick shooters was due: They broke away from the main club, TSV Maria Thalheim, and founded their own club, SSV Maria Thalheim.
The SSV has been a member of the Bavarian State Sports Association (BLSV) since 2016.
Looking back, Baumgartner praised the then TSV chairman Roland Kolb for the good and fair cooperation, especially during the spin-off phase.
Baumgartner invested around 1,000 hours of work in the stock shooters during his tenure, the outgoing chairman reckons. And right afterwards he says that he “enjoyed doing everything” because stick shooting is his greatest hobby. “There was always a lot to organize,” remembers Baumgartner. The chairman was already on the road for days to sign a music group for the legendary Oktoberfest. "As the chairman, you are always the number one contact for any problem or ailment," says Baumgartner.
But now someone else should take over this job.
Baumgartner has decided to make room for the new chairman Werner Müller (Vice: Erwin Strohmaier).
“You don't get any younger,” he explains his motivation.
“Now I can take my time to practice curling and then have a leisurely drink,” says Baumgartner.
And he takes the opportunity to thank someone else: “None of this would have been possible if I hadn't had the full backing of my wife Maria.
Of course she also belongs to the club, was and is there almost every time I went to the stock track. "
By Thomas Obermeier
