Ferenc Várkői

From 1937 Ferenc Várkői was a gymnast at the Testnevelési Főiskola SC (College of Physical Education SC), and then from 1941 to 1955 for the Pécsi Bőrgyár (Pécs Tannery) TC. In 1939 and 1940 he won the team championship.

Between 1939 and 1955 Várkői appeared 27 times for the Hungarian national team. In 1946 he won the individual all-around competition at the Balkan Games. In 1948 he was a member of the team that won the bronze medal at the London Olympics. He did not start at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics due to an injury. At the 1954 World Championships in Roma he finished in seventh as a member of the Hungarian team.

In 1940 Várkői graduated from the College of Physical Education. From 1942 he got a position as a physical education teacher at the Jesuit Pius High School in Pécs. After 1945 he was a teacher at Miklós Zrínyi Vocational School.

At the beginning of 1941 Várkői established PEAC’s gymnastics department. In the 1950s and 1960s he worked as a trainer at the PBTC, and then as a master coach he made indelible merits in turning the city of Pécs into a gymnastics center. He launched several internationally recognized competitors on their successful careers. In 1965 he published his popular specialist book entitled Little Children’s Tournament, which was followed in 1984 by a publication written for young children and adults.

Per the decision of the Pécs municipality, the name of the former sports center of the former PBTC was named after him, becoming the Várkői Ferenc Student and Leisure Sports Center in 1994.