Poli anniversary with ... "Loli"
Iosif Lereter, celebrated by UPT management
Politehnica University Timisoara has always praised its predecessors. A soul event took place on Friday, July 27th, at the UPT Library. Iosif Lereter ("Loli"), the last player of Ştiinţa Timişoara, who repeatedly won the Romanian Cup against Progresul Bucharest in 1958, came from Germany, shortly after the age of 85, at the wheel of the car vânzarea (!), to participate in the organization of the celebration in his honor.
The former international football champion of Politehnica Timisoara and, at the same time, a graduate of UPT, received a Diploma of Excellency awarded by the rector of Politehnica University, prof. eng. Viorel-Aurel Serban, PhD. The event was organized by UPT and Druckeria under the name of 'Sports Café - Știința '58, and a mark that marked the 60th anniversary of the 1958 Romanian Cup finals, when the team, then named Știința, won the first trophy in Poli history, the first ever conquered in Romania by a student team and the first in the history of post-war Timisoara football.
His presence in Timisoara filled the Polyvalent Hall of the UPT Library with huge names in the area sport, which saw the writing of history in the T-shirt of Știința. Among others, Jackie Ionescu, Nicolae Diminescu, Petre Popa, Ionel Bungău, Ioan Igna, Mihai Coste, Nicolae Secosan, or Doina Moţ were present. The footballers and coaches of today's Politehnica, supporters, journalists were in the hall.
Prof. eng. Nicolae Neguţ, PhD, who passed last year, launched an extraordinary volume about UPT's sport history, presenting Lereter's extensive biography. President of Politehnica Foundation, prof. eng. Ivan Bogdanov, PhD, offered an honorary diploma to Lereter and Nicolae Diminescu, a Poli player in the 1958 group. Rector of former UPT, prof. eng. Ioan Cartiş, PhD, the best-performing coach in the history of football in Banat, the erudite Ion V. Ionescu, and the one who for decades was the unmistakable voice of white-violet football Nicolae Secosan, remembered that fantastic sixth decade for student football in Timisoara, the "Golden Team" decade. President of ASU Politehnica, lecturer eng. Florin Drăgan, PhD, the vice-rector of UPT, and Druckeria's leader Sebastian Novovici, offered Lereter and Diminescu the new game shirt that the "boys in boots" will wear in the next two seasons.
The Friday event was opened by visiting Druckeria's extraordinary exhibitions to recall the 1958 Romanian Cup Tour and ending with the champagne rooster.
Iosif Lereter, known as "Loli," the first footballer with more than 300 appearances in Division A, who was a fair-play monument and was not eliminated even once throughout his career, said " I'm overwhelmed by the audience that was here, I did not imagine there will be so many people. "
Born on July 23rd, 1933, at Oţelu Roşu (Caraş-Severin County), Iosif Lereter started playing football at the local team in 1949. Between 1956 and 1967 he played for Știința / Politehnica Timișoara, attending the faculty courses and becoming a mechanic. He is part of the "golden team" of Timisoara students as a forward or midfielder and played a match in the national team of Romania in 1965 (32 years old), 1-3 with Czechoslovakia in Prague in the World Championship preliminaries. In 1967, he moved to UTA, rival of Poli, and captured the last glory of this club, conquering two consecutive national titles (1969, 1970), eliminating Feyenoord, the "en titre" holder of the CEC and the Intercontinental Cup in 1970 ; playing the quarterfinals in the UEFA Cup in 1972. He is an emeritus master of sports.
He retired when he was almost 40 years old in 1973! He was then a coach at Timisoara’s Constructorul and UMT, after which he was dedicated to the engineering profession at UMT. Since 1991 he lives in Germany near Karlsruhe.
