| György Szepesi | |
|---|---|
Szepesi (left), interviewing bantamweight boxing champion Tibor Csík, 1949 |
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| Born | György Friedländer February 5, 1922 Budapest, Hungary |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Alma mater | University of Physical Education, Budapest |
| Occupation | Radio personality, journalist and sports executive |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Parents | Miklós Friedländer |
György Szepesi (born György Friedländer; February 5, 1922) is a Hungarian radio personality, journalist and sports executive.[1][2][3]
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Szepesi is Jewish, and was born in Budapest, Hungary.[1][4] His father Miklós Friedländer died in Buchenwald concentration camp, in 1945.[4] Szepesi himself was forced into a labor battalion in Ukraine, which was disbanded in October 1944.[4] Following that, Szepesi returned to Budapest and was housed with a fellow sufferer by a four-children family. Gábor Kocsis and his wife, who – as Szepesi said in his speech at the inauguration of the monument erected in memory of the victims of labour battalions in Budapest in 2009 – treated them like they were their own children and harboured them until the German troops lost ground and moved behind the line of the Danube in mid-January 1945.[5]
He received his doctorate in sports history from the University of Physical Education in Budapest.[1] He played basketball for Hungary’s Vác-Újbuda LTC until the Fascists disbanded the club in 1942.[1]
Szepesi has been on Hungarian Radio since April 1945, when he was appointed Editor-in-Chief.[1][2][6][7][8] He has covered Olympic Games since 1948, and (soccer) Football World Cup since 1954.[1]
Szepesi was a Hungarian Olympic Committee member from 1962 into the year 2000, and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Executive Committee Chairman from 1982 to 1994.[1] He was Chairman of the Hungarian Football Association (HFA) from 1978 to 1986.[1] He is now honorary chairman of the HFA, and an honorary member of FIFA’s Executive Committee.[1]
He received the FIFA Medal in 1994, and the Olympic Order from the International Olympic Committee in 1995.[1][3] He received the honor of the "Pillar of Achievement" from the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.[1][2][6]
In 2004 he was given the Prima Primissa award in the Hungarian Electronic Press category.[9] In 2005 Szepesi became a honorary citizen of Budapest,[10] and in the same year he was decorated with the Middle Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.[4]