Jo Deckarm

Joachim “Jo” Deckarm began his sports career as an athlete and later became one of the most talented and best handball players in West Germany. He became German Youth Champion in the pentathlon in 1971 but then turned to handball. With VfL Gummersbach he became West German Champion in 1974-76 and European Cup champion in 1974 and 1978. In 1978 he also became World Champion with West Germany. In total, he earned 104 national caps and scored 381 goals.

At a European Cup match with VfL Gummersbach on 30 March 1979 in Tatabánya (Hungary) he struck his head against his opponent, Lájos Pánovics, and fell unconscious to the ground, again striking his head on a thinly-coated cement floor, sustaining two skull fractures, and a severe closed brain injury. Deckarm fell into a coma for 131 days, and only slowly recovered. His brain injury caused loss of motor functions, and required full-time nursing care since 1982, initially in an assisted-living facility in his hometown of Saarbrücken, and later in Gummersbach, assisted by his brother. By the 2010s he had recovered some functions, including the ability to speak. In 2013, Deckarm was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame.