Defender Thomas Happe was the son of swimmer Ursula Happe who won a gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He was on the West German handball squad at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that won the silver medal after losing 18-17 in the final to Yugoslavia. Therefore, all players were awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award. Happe won 56 international caps and scored 16 goals.
Domestically, Happe played with OSC Dortmund and then TUSEM Essen in the Bundesliga. Happe won the German Championship in 1986-87 and 1989, and the German DHB Cup in 1988. He also won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1989, 1991-92, all with TUSEM Essen. Happe later coached Bundesliga clubs TuS Schutterwald and VfL Gummersbach and then female Bundesliga teams.
West Germany