Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to continue wrapping up our coverage of eisstockschießen, or “ice stock sport” at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics. We have covered this tournament haphazardly, but we wanted be a little more organized and touch upon the remaining mystery competitors that we have not yet mentioned. Today, we are going to take a quick look at those who were ranked highly in the tournament, but we have not yet covered.
In particular, we have missed mentioning a few of the members of the team from Miesbach that placed second in the team event that was open to international clubs. For one of them, Alois Dirnberger, we know of an individual of this name who was born June 15, 1891 in Bavaria and died October 19, 1981 in Indio, California, but we cannot confirm that he was the competitor. About the other two, Johann Elbach and Josef Lenz, we know nothing.
Just missing the podium in fourth in that event was the team from Straubing. Of those individuals, we have not mentioned Franz Xaver Bachl or Albert Karl, but that is largely because we have been unable to uncover nothing about them. The same goes for two of the members of the fifth-placed team from Zwiesel: Hermann Fuchs and Wolfgang Röck. In the latter case, however, it is possible that he is connected to the manufacturing company of the same name that based in Zwiesel.
Finally, in our discussion of those who competed exclusively in individual events, we missed one: Karl Möbus of FTC 1914 Palmengarten, Frankfurt am Main, who did not make a mark in the German-only target shooting event. As before, we wanted to review this topic in the hopes that, by getting their names out there a little more, we might one day learn more about them and their contributions to the world of sport.
I looked up the Alois Dirnberger who died in 1981 and he seems to have emigrated to the US in 1913 – https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/4011919633:7488?tid=&pid=&queryId=dad2b13e7578e7cf7138a85d143d38c0&_phsrc=ddL21022&_phstart=successSource
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/16941572:1002?tid=&pid=&queryId=dad2b13e7578e7cf7138a85d143d38c0&_phsrc=ddL21022&_phstart=successSource is his WWII draft card, where it says he worked at West Point. His next of kin is Mrs Helen Dirnberger.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/828999:61377?tid=&pid=&queryId=dad2b13e7578e7cf7138a85d143d38c0&_phsrc=ddL21022&_phstart=successSource seems to be the marriage of Alois and Helen in 1924.
I found a record for another Alois Dirnberger with links to Miesbach, who was born 14 July 1890 – https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/3463238:1631?tid=&pid=&queryId=dad2b13e7578e7cf7138a85d143d38c0&_phsrc=ddL21022&_phstart=successSource
And another man by that name who was born 24 August 1890 -https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/1696391:1631?tid=&pid=&queryId=dad2b13e7578e7cf7138a85d143d38c0&_phsrc=ddL21022&_phstart=successSource
And a third who was born 8 May 1890 -https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/6198880:1631?tid=&pid=&queryId=9cd3a7d8dcd83380453227c4c34b6c40&_phsrc=ddL21023&_phstart=successSource
I think the Olympian might the first of these three.
Thank you for sharing this research! We will look into it and see if we can confirm anything!
There was a Josef “Sepp” Lenz from Shonau am Konigsee Germany. Sepp was born in 1934 died May 3, 2023. Possible relative of the Josef Lenz from Garmisch Games? Sepp was active in Luge from 1959 until his death. Google Josef Lenz Luge for additional info.