Erwin Blask

Biography

Erwin Blask was born on March 20, 1910 in East Prussia, Germany. The tenth child of an Imperial Guard soldier, Erwin was an avid football, handball, and table tennis player in his youth. Blask won a silver medal in the men's hammer throw at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany. Erwin went on to win a second silver medal in the same event at the 1938 European Championships as well as won several national titles which include the stone throw in 1933 and 1934 and the hammer throw in 1935, 1939-1940, and 1950-1951. Moreover, Blask not only won the national police title in the javelin throw in 1929, but also set two world records in both the stone throw in 1933 and the hammer throw in 1938. Outside of his impressive athletic achievements, Erwin was also a sergeant in the Wehrbezirks-Kommando Berlinin, served as director of the German Police Sports Board in the Technical Committee for Police Pentathlon from 1949-1959 and Athletics from 1959-1970, and headed the third Frankfurt Police Station from 1960 to 1970. He was married to sprinter Dora Voigt. Blask died at age 88 on February 6, 1999 in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.