Olympic Hockey Card of the Day, Gustav Jaenecke 1936

These are actual cards from my collection that were issued for various Winter Olympic games either as souvenirs or as premiums in cigarette packages. The rear of this card is translated;

"Gustav Jaenecke, the captain of the German team and its best player in ice hockey tournament of the Winter Games."

Indeed he was the best player for the Germans in the 1936 Olympics, perhaps even the best of all-time. Beginning  as a 17 year old with his hometown Berliner Schlittschuh-Club in 1925 he would score 370 goals in 417 club-team matches. Representing Germany in international play from 1926 through 1941 he counted another 71 goals in 91 games. 

In total, Jaenecke was a member of 13 German league championship teams, most of any player ever. In addition his Berliner SC won two Spengler Cups. With the national side, he won Olympic bronze in 1932 and another bronze and a silver in the World Championships of 1934 and 1932 respectively.

In addition to his great skill at hockey, Jaenecke was the German tennis champion of 1932 and a member of the Davis Cup squad on five occasions. He was never a member of the Nazi party and was never drafted into the army as he was deemed indispensable in managing his family's shoe factory in addition to his position as Captain of the national hockey team.

Gustav Jaenecke was elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1998.





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