Gustav Manning

Gustav Manning, born in the London suburb of Lewisham, was one of four sons of Wolfgang Gustav Mannheimer, a Jewish merchant originally from Königsberg in East Prussia. The latter sold his company in the early 1880s and moved to Berlin, but like the whole family retained the anglicized name "Manning". In Berlin, father and sons joined the Berlin Cricket Club, where cricket and soccer were played. The sons Fred and Gustav played soccer in various Berlin clubs, including from 1893 for VfB Pankow, which was founded this year. Gustav Manning, who sometimes called himself Gus Randolph Manning, emphasizing his English origin, made friends there with his teammate Franz John who founded a club called FC Bayern Munich a few years later. After his school days, Gustav Manning studied medicine, initially for three semesters at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, then in southwest Germany in Freiburg im Breisgau. There he also did his doctorate in medicine. In addition to his work as an assistant doctor at the medical university polyclinic in Straßburg, he played soccer at the Straßburger FV. At the end of 1897 Manning was a co-founder, active player and first chairman of Freiburger FC. After his return to Berlin, he was active as a player and chairman (1898–99) of the VfB Pankow. In his function as secretary of the Association of South German Football Clubs (VsFV), Manning represented several southern German clubs at the founding meeting of the German Football Association in January…