Hubert Aleksander Wagner (also known as Hubert Jerzy Wagner) (born 4 March 1941 – 13 March 2002) was a Polish volleyball player and coach. He was a member of the Poland national team from 1963 to 1971, a participant in the Mexico 1968 Olympics and a bronze medallist at the 1967 European Championship. As a head coach, he led Poland to the titles of the 1974 World Champions and the 1976 Olympic Champions.
Personal life
Wagner was born in Poznań. His parents were Romuald and Zofia (née Kotlińska). He had younger siblings - sister Elżbieta (born 1946) and brother Leszek.
Wagner was married twice. On 15 October 1963, he married Danuta Kordaczuk, who was a volleyball player who had won medals at the Olympics, World, and European Championships. The couple had one son, Grzegorz Wagner (born 1965), who was also a volleyball player (setter) and coach.[1] They divorced in 1978.
In 1979, he married Anna Baraniecka. In the last two years of his life, his partner was Danuta Marzec. He had two grandsons - Iwo (born 1991) also played as setter and now he works as scoutman, second grandson Jakub (born 1993) is also a volleyball player and one granddaughter named Sara (born 2003).[2]
Career as coach
In 1973, he became head coach of the Polish men's national volleyball team, when he was 32. He was known as a demanding coach, who attached great importance to physical preparation of their players. In 1974 he led the team to their first title at the World Champions 1974 in history.[3]
As World Champions his team was one of the main contenders for next title. They went to the European Championship 1975 held in Yugoslavia, winning silver.
Before going to Montreal in Canada for the Olympics he said: I am only interested in gold.
The tournament was fatiguing and hard for his team but Wagner completed his plan. On 30 July 1976, he led the national men's team to gold as Olympic Champions 1976.[4] In the final his team beat the Soviet Union in tie-break, despite the fact that Polish volleyball players spent 11 and a half hours on the court - a lot more time than their opponents (5 hours) throughout the tournament. Two months after this success, he left the national team.
1992–93 Turkish Championship, with Halkbank Ankara
Death
On 13 March 2002 he left his hotel in Warsaw after a lively discussion at a meeting of members of the Polish Association of Volleyball, of which he was secretary. Some time later he had a car accident caused by a heart attack.[5] Despite rapid resuscitation he died. An autopsy showed advanced coronary artery disease. He was buried at the Northern Communal Cemetery in Warsaw.[6]
Memory
The Memorial of Hubert Jerzy Wagner has been held since 2003. The memorial is a three-day tournament for four national teams invited by Poland, and is one of the most important and popular volleyball events in the country.
Wagner was admitted to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2010.[7]
Five schools and two sports arenas in Poland are named after him.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Tadeusz Szlagor
Head coach of Poland 1973–1976
Succeeded by Jerzy Welcz
Preceded by Aleksander Skiba
Head coach of Poland 1983–1986
Succeeded by Stanisław Gościniak
Preceded by Wiktor Krebok
Head coach of Poland 1996–1998
Succeeded by Ireneusz Mazur
FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship winning managers
