Dr. Hans-Dieter Tippenhauer passed away in Hamburg at the beginning of April, aged 77. Tippenhauer was the Borussia Dortmund manager and, for a brief spell, coach at the start of the 1980s.

Tippenhauer made a name for himself during his spell coaching Fortuna Düsseldorf. He led the club to the 1979 European Cup Winners' Cup final, where they lost 4-3 to Barcelona, before winning the DFB Cup a few weeks later.

Tippenhauer's name had first been linked with BVB in 1978. The move eventually came about five years later: on 30 October 1983, he was appointed to succeed coach Uli Maslo, who had been sacked a week earlier; at the same time, he was also introduced as the manager by then president Frank Roring. Following a 1-1 stalemate with VfL Bochum and a 2-1 defeat away to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Tippenhauer quickly ended the dual role and introduced Horst Franz as the new BVB coach in mid-November 1983.

In total, Tippenhauer only spent one year working for Borussia Dortmund. He did not have too much luck with his decisions, such as parting company with stars and fan favourites like Manfred Burgsmüller and Rüdiger Abramczik, hiring former BVB goalkeeper Timo Konietzka as the new head coach ahead of the 1984/85 campaign and his general transfer market activity. With Borussia Dortmund on the brink in both sporting and financial terms in the autumn 1984, one of the first official acts by Dr. Reinhard Rauball, who had been appointed as an emergency board member by district court, was to end Tippenhauer's tenure on 24 October 1984.

Dr. Hans-Dieter Tippenhauer later enjoyed a successful spell working as the chief executive of an advertising agency and completed his doctorate on the topic of "The perceived influence of senior players in the German Bundesliga" at the University of Münster aged 66. (br)