Respectfully, the fairytale story of Wolfgang Wuensch is a very interesting one, so to speak. The young lad had to navigate his way through a thorny journey before finding refuge in South West Africa (SWA) (‘Kleine Deutschland’) far away from his then native war ravaged Czechoslovakia.
Born in the city of Bronn, on the 30th of December 1930, aged 14 and hardly out of his pair of shorts Wuensch was obligated by circumstances beyond control to flee his motherland with his old lady, younger brother and sister during the devastating 2nd World War.
The trio settled in the city of Memmingen, Germany furthering his educational aspirations unhindered. He successfully qualified as Typesetter in April 1948. The multitalented athlete engaged in extramural activities playing football, handball, and athletics.
Wuensch joined local team TV Memmingen as a goalkeeper before relocating to Munich where he trained with Budesliga giants Bayern Munich. Just as he was about to be installed as a prominent squad member, the promising goalie would have none of that as he had his eyes set on greener pastures elsewhere beyond football.
His next destination was across the Medditterian Sea, only to wash ashore the giant Atlantic Ocean.
Wuesnch arrived in Windhoek in 1952, found employment with John Meinert Printers. Hugely excited to explore the attractive nature of the desert country, the 22-year old hyperactive young fellah drove down sea level to Swakopmund, itching to spend the festive season in the holyday hub.
As fate would dictate, he met and befriended a local dude going by the name of Sebastian Stegmann at the popular Gruner Kranz Watering hole (Pub). The pair have been inseparable ever since until both sadly transitioned to eternity. Back in the city of bright lights (Windhoek), the agile goalie found shelter with local side Fortuna-45, steering the team to several league titles.
With Wuensch firmly stationed between the sticks, Fortuna won the coveted national league title in only his first season with the well-oiled German outfit in 1952, tailed by successive league titles triumphs between in 1954 and 1957, in addition to a gold medal in the annual Matador Pokal in 1953, certainly no mean feat.
However, it was at the big stage where he announced himself as a force to be reckoned with between the sticks at Provincial level. Overly excited football officials from Southern Transvaal could not heaped enough praises for the acrobatic shot stopper after their short safari to South West Africa.
Wuensch was hailed as arguably the finest goalkeeper in the entire Southern Africa, and was compared to the legendary Ken Hewkins.
The German import played a blinder in the action-packed clash of the titans between SWA and eventual cup winners Western Province in the Currie Cup. SWA narrowly lost by a solitary goal.
Despite being on the receiving of an embarrassing 5-1 trashing at the hands of uncompromising Northern Transvaal while keeping goal for the Springboks, the agile net-guard was outstanding between the sticks and had it not been for his heroics, the score line could have been catastrophic.
The Namibian had the crowd on the edge of their seats producing breathtaking saves never witnessed before in that neck of the woods. Famously known as the man who speaks ‘little English’, Wuensch twisted like a cock screw in mid-air to tip Les Fourie’s goal bound thunderbolt over the bar from 30-yards out….much to the delight of the large crowd at the iconic Rand Stadium in Johannesburg .
In March 1954, Wuensch got hitched to his partner Ruth Orlowsky in the city of Windhoek. His newly wed pretty face missus bore him a pair of cute daughters Antje and Barbel. As time went by, he opened his own printing company Ultra Press in May 1957.
Apart from the beautiful game of football, Wuensch was very passionate about sport. A Jack of all trades, the brother tried his hand at multiple sporting activities, playing squash, golf, angling, and tennis. He won several high profile titles with SKW Tennis Club.