Club rivalry and a dedicated support for our national team – such was the Czech-Slovak mutual feelings towards sport during the time of the common state, whose 100th anniversary of its foundation we will celebrate in 2018. The flag bearers of this mutual feeling were many sport legends, natives from both sides of the river Morava and Danube, who won the hearts of the opposing fans. However, when representing the Czechoslovak flag, they won the hearts of all the fans.
Born in Košice, football player Andrej Kvašňák (1936 – 2007) was the midfield schemer, feared “header” of the ball, popular joker and great leader at Sparta Prague. For years the fans came to “see Kvašňák” and fans proclaimed him to be the “Sparta player of the century”. He was a member of the team that won a bronze medal for Czechoslovakia at the first European Championship in 1960 and he was also an important member of “silver boys” team in Chile, coming second in the world championship of 1962. He played 47 matches in the national team and scored 13 goals, in the domestic league he played 248 matches and scored 83 goals.
Václav Nedomanský was born in 1944 and raised on hockey in Hodonín. He then moved to Slovan Bratislava at the age of 18 and spent long 12 years there. He achieved the title “king of the league” three times. He played in 419 matches and scored 369 goals. The audience loved him and the shout “Venco banán!” (Venco, banana!) was never shouted in vain. The well-built centre scored 163 goals in 220 matches in the national team which made him a legend – the highest scoring player in Czechoslovak history. He was world champion (1972), eight times a medal winner at the Ice Hockey World Championships and he was a member of the team that won silver and bronze medals at the Winter Olympic Games (1968 and 1972). Despite all these credits the communist regime did not allow him to play in the top hockey league in the world – the NHL. After he emigrated he successfully played for the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers.
The parents of Július (also known as Gyula or Ďusi) Torma (1922 – 1991) came from Štúrovo, but he was born in Budapest. He trained under the guidance of the legendary coach Zsigmund Adler. Július hid Adler, thus saving him from transportation to a Nazi death camp. He became the Hungarian Boxing Champion 6 times, and after repatriation back to Czechoslovakia in 1946 he was a 10-time Champion of Czechoslovakia. In 1949 he became European Champion (a bronze medal was awarded to him in 1947 and 1955). At the Olympics in London in 1948 he won the first gold medal, in the under 67 kilos weight category, in the history of Czechoslovak boxing and he was named as the best boxer of the tournament. Later he formed the next generation as a coach in Baťovany (today known as Partizánske) and then for many years in Prague. During his career he fought in 996 matches and he only lost seven.
                                                                                                                                                                                             Peter Osuský