Dezsö Lauber competed in the 1908 Olympics in men’s singles tennis and in the 1924 Olympic Arts Competitions. An architect by trade, his co-design for a stadium won a silver medal together with two-time Olympic swimming champion Alfréd Hajós. The realization of the antique style design for the Hungarian stadium for 50,000 spectators was prevented, however, by the outbreak and the consequences of World War I. Since 1919 it was planned to build the facility on the Margaret Island instead on the originally considered Vérmező army terrain. Finally, the site of a former horse racing track in the XIV. District was envisaged. There, the Nép-Stadium was eventually built after the World War II.
Lauber was active in multiple sports, including bobsleigh, ice skating, golf, cycling and tennis. In fact, he has a tenuous connection to the 1936 Olympics in another sport, golf. There was a golf exhibition in 1936 at Baden-Baden, loosely considered an exhibition event and Lauber competed in it. Lauber, a construction engineer, designed and built the first golf course in Hungary at Tátralomnic in 1908-09, and the first Hungarian tournament was held there in 1909. He later became secretary of the club and also served as secretary of the MOB (Hungarian Olympic Committee) from 1906-15. Lauber was a multiple Hungarian golf champion and was a three-time champion of München, at the time considered one of the top titles in Europe. He was also a member of the jury for architecture at the 1928 Games.
Hungary