Willy Gies

The young Willy Gies began his apprenticeship as a fitter at the Küppersbusch cooker factory in Schalke at the age of 14. After work, he met up with his friends at House Goor to play football. Legend has it that he founded the Westfalia Schalke club with them in 1904 in a backyard in the shadow of the Consolidation Colliery. They decided on the club colours red and yellow (click here for the story). 20 years later, Westfalia would become FC Schalke 04.

Gies himself was no longer active at this time. He was seriously wounded as a soldier in the First World War. He had to give up playing football due to his war injury. He withdrew completely from club life. Gies died at the age of 41. He was not to live to see "his" Schalke storm to the top of German football with Ernst Kuzorra (click here for the story).

Gie's grave at the Am Stäfflingshof Cemetery has since been levelled. However, the Schalker Markt Foundation was able to locate the former grave. Today, a memorial stone at the site commemorates the founding father. There is another memorial stone on the Schalker FanFeld: it is dedicated to all founding members of Westfalia Schalke.