Walter Scheibli lost his wife and son, but remains optimistic

I used to sit next to Walter Scheibli regularly. That used to be around the turn of the millennium. At that time he had long been a cult reporter for Radio 24 and I was a newcomer to Radio Zürisee. Nevertheless, we were on an equal footing because he never let you understand that he was anything better.

During that time, in the hockey arenas of this country, I was able to experience Walti first hand. How he was always there and installed and tested everything long ago when I arrived about an hour before the first confrontation. As he said in a firm, loud voice: “Zätt Ess Cee 4, Lugano 3!” As the third row chanted his name in the venerable Hallenstadion, he stood up in his lucky yellow jersey, raised his arms, let himself be celebrated and, after seconds of homage, sat down again. The Sun King and his people.

Now I’m sitting next to him for the first time in about 20 years. In his apartment in Zurich-Unterstrass. A lot has happened since then. He turned 90 last October. But he didn’t feel like celebrating because his only child, Walter J. Scheibli, had passed away a few months earlier. And by Christmas 2018 he had to let go of his beloved Margrit, to whom he had been married since 1957. A conversation with him is like life: sometimes funny, sometimes sad. And a constant back and forth between the past and the present.

“When I look there, I get sentimental,” says Scheibli, pointing to the photos of his loved ones. They are all gone, only his younger brother is still alive. “I am almost always alone now,” says Scheibli musingly, “I am in good health, but morale could be better. When it gets dark at night, thoughts of the deceased come back. But I try to stay positive anyway After all, I want to live to be 100.”

As he says this, he flashes his trademark mischievous smile. But unfortunately, his memory is going crazy on a regular basis now. “That used to be my greatest strength. I had a good memory for names, which many envied. But some time ago I fell and hit my head against the door. Since then I sometimes have a big void in my head and suddenly I don’t know what I wanted to say. That irritates me, because then I think: Walti, you should know that.”

He even had his own autograph cards

Very optimistic, Scheibli also sees an advantage in this. “If I’m talking to you now and I don’t want to talk about something, I just say I don’t remember. That way I can steer the conversation to areas I want to talk about and know everything about.” That’s exactly what the crook Scheibli will be doing for the next hour. It sounds something like this: Walti, who was your favorite player at ZSC? Scheibli: “Oh, I don’t remember, but did I tell you how I used to be in goal in football?”

But before talking about it, Walter Scheibli’s phenomenon should be explained to the young people. “Walter is perhaps the only reporter who has a bigger name than all the players,” says ZSC master coach Kent Ruhnke.

What seems exaggerated at first glance is very close to the truth. Scheibli worked for Radio 24 between 1982 and 2014. His main responsibility was the ZSC. It was a time when radio was still an important source of information. There was no internet and no mobile phones, and even teletext was not yet in use. So if you wanted to know what it was like at a ZSC game, you had to turn on the radio and listen to Scheibli.

This made Scheibli – intentionally or unintentionally – a legend. To a radio reporter who had his own autograph cards. Who was allowed to go to away games with the ZSC bus in the early years. Who didn’t mind being a neutral reporter, but audibly rooting for the ZSC. Who with his voice and his sentences set our main cinema in motion. Is he proud of it? “Let’s put it this way: I don’t mind hearing that, but let’s talk about my time as a football goalkeeper.”

As a teenager, Scheibli had one dream above all: he wanted to become a professional football player in France. It didn’t quite work out, but he played in three national A matches for the Young Fellows. And in France he once scored in a friendly match for Red Star Paris. “Then I was warned not to drink water from the tube. But after a workout I was so thirsty that I drank in the shower. I got typhoid so quickly and ended up in the hospital.”

Thanks to Schawinski, he became a reporter legend

Scheibli’s second great love was ZSC early on. In 1938 his father took him to a competition on the Dolder for the first time. “I liked that. We were in the front row.” Then it flashes again, that twinkle in his eye.

In addition to football, Scheibli did an internship as a baker. He later worked for Nestle in the field service and did voluntary work at his club, FC Unterstrass. When there was a junior Christmas Eve in 1966, his birth as a reporter began. “We actually wanted to hire Jan Hiermeyer at the time to interview a few invited players from FC Zurich. But he asked too much money. So I grabbed the mic and jumped in.”

However, his first attempt to gain a foothold in the radio landscape failed. Although he worked for Radio Beromünster for a short time, his style was too sensational for their bosses. But not for Roger Schawinski, the founder of the new Radio 24. “Schawi then put me in the spotlight and encouraged me.” It was the start of a unique career.

“I Don’t Want To Talk About Death”

All the talk made Scheibli tired. After an hour of talking, his memory plays tricks on him more and more. We talk again about his deceased Margrit. Scheibli is excited about his marriage, which ended so abruptly in 2018. “In over 60 years of marriage, we never really had a fight. She was a wonderful woman.”

There was only occasional disagreement among the Scheiblis on one subject. “You block all thoughts of death,” she would tell him. And what does it look like today? ‘It still is. I don’t want to talk about death because it is the end of life and I still enjoy life even though I miss my wife and son very much.”

His big wish: he wants to be 100, like his mother Martha once was. “She celebrated her 100th birthday at home. Then she went to a nursing home. But she didn’t like it there at all and died after a few months.” Walti still lives within his own four walls, at the same address for 66 years. “I don’t want to go to a nursing home, I want to stay here,” he says firmly .

He has also always remained faithful to his second home: the Zurich Hallenstadion. But as you know, the ZSC Lions have been playing in the new Swiss Life Arena since this season. “I like the new stadium very much. Incidentally, during the last visit I noticed that my level of consciousness is still very high.”

Then he bends over to me, puts his hand on my arm and whispers softly. “That makes me a little proud. But please don’t tell anyone.” Then his voice gets louder again. “But enough about that, let’s talk about my time as a football goalkeeper.”

Source : Blick