György Szepesi
| György Szepesi | |
|---|---|
 Szepesi (left), interviewing bantamweight boxing champion Tibor Csík, 1949 | |
| Born | February 5, 1922 (age 89) |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Alma mater | University of Physical Education, Budapest |
| Occupation | Radio personality, journalist and sports executive |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Parents | Miklós Friedländer |
György Szepesi (born György Friedländer; February 5, 1922) is a Hungarian radio personality, journalist and sports executive.
Early life
Szepesi is Jewish, and was born in Budapest, Hungary. His father Miklós Friedländer died in Buchenwald concentration camp, in 1945. Szepesi himself was forced into a labor battalion in Ukraine, which was disbanded in October 1944. Following that, Szepesi returned to Budapest and was housed with a fellow sufferer by a four-children family. Gábor Kocsis and his wife, who – as Szepesi said in his speech at the inauguration of the monument erected in memory of the victims of labour battalions in Budapest in 2009 – treated them like they were their own children and harboured them until the German troops lost ground and moved behind the line of the Danube in mid-January 1945.
He received his doctorate in sports history from the University of Physical Education in Budapest. He played basketball for Hungary’s Vác-Újbuda LTC until the Fascists disbanded the club in 1942.
Career
Szepesi has been on Hungarian Radio since April 1945, when he was appointed Editor-in-Chief. He has covered Olympic Games since 1948, and (soccer) Football World Cup since 1954.
Szepesi was a Hungarian Olympic Committee member from 1962 into the year 2000, and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Executive Committee Chairman from 1982 to 1994. He was Chairman of the Hungarian Football Association (HFA) from 1978 to 1986. He is now honorary chairman of the HFA, and an honorary member of FIFA’s Executive Committee.
Honors
He received the FIFA Medal in 1994, and the Olympic Order from the International Olympic Committee in 1995. He received the honor of the "Pillar of Achievement" from the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
In 2004 he was given the Prima Primissa award in the Hungarian Electronic Press category. In 2005 Szepesi became a honorary citizen of Budapest, and in the same year he was decorated with the Middle Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.
References
External links
- The match of the century, by György Szepesi, Hungarian News and Information Service
- Népesedésünk ma és holnap, by György Szepesi, Kossuth, 1986, ISBN 963092840X
- Hungarian football rhapsody: 70 years of soccer history, by György Szepesi, Pannonia Press, 1968
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gy%C3%B6rgy_Szepesi&oldid=460110615
