CHRISTIAN WELP - 101 Greats of European Basketball

looked the part also, but for technique, shot and sense
of the game, he was an all-around player.
The sad news reached us on March 1, 2015, from Seattle,
the city where he lived: Christian Welp had dead.
A heart attack put an end to his life at just 51 years old.
However, we could be able to hear the Welp name on
the basketball courts again, as Collin, one of his sons,
is a young player now, too. Welp, a name to remember.
Christian Welp
AEK Athens. For German basketball, however, being
among the best eight teams was quite a feat. His seventh
German League title was a consolation prize. He
tried to play one more season, signing for Reggio Calabria
in Italy, but after 12 games, and being aware that
he could not deliver at the level he wanted, he decided
to put an end to his career.
I was fortunate to see Welp many times, the first
time at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and the last
at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. In January of 1996, I
interviewed him before a game between FC Barcelona
and Bayer Leverkusen. A photo of that interview, published
in El Mundo Deportivo newspaper, is the souvenir
I had from that interview with a great player. He
was not your typical center. He was tall alright, and he
101 greats of european basketball
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