Ernest Erbstein, Hungarian: Erbstein Ernő, (13 May 1898 - 4 May 1949) commonly known as Ernest Egri-Erbstein was a Jewish-Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player and later manager from Nagyvárad; now known as Oradea

Oradea

Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:...

 in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. He carried out his footballing activities in several countries, he was most noted for his association with Italian football.

Biography

Erbstein carried out the majority of his playing career with Budapesti Atlétikai Klub, with whom he spent almost a decade. After first getting a taste for Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 football with U.S. Fiumana

NK Rijeka

HNK Rijeka is a Croatian football club, from Rijeka on the Croatian coast.-History:The club was founded as NK Kvarner in 1946, after Rijeka passed from Italy to Yugoslavia following the end of World War II. During its early period in Yugoslavia, the club had moderate success in various Yugoslav...

, he moved to Vicenza

Vicenza Calcio

Vicenza Calcio is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. The club was formed in 1902 and currently plays in Italy's Serie B, having spent the entire 1960s and a large part of the 1990s in Serie A...

 for a season. He then spent a brief spell in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 playing for Brooklyn Wanderers

Brooklyn Wanderers

The Brooklyn Wanderers was a U.S. soccer team which was a founding member of the National Association Football League in the late nineteenth century. It later joined the American Soccer League.-History:...

 before retiring for the playing field.

As a manager Bari

A.S. Bari

Associazione Sportiva Bari is an Italian football club founded in 1908, they are based in Bari, Apulia and plays in Serie B. The club have spent many seasons bouncing between the top two divisions in Italian football, Serie A and Serie B....

 gave him his first chance, he had short spells at Nocerina

A.G. Nocerina 1910

Associazione Sportiva Giovanile Nocerina is an Italian association football club, based in Nocera Inferiore, Campania.Nocerina in the season 2011-12 plays in Serie B.- Games with Juventus :...

, Cagliari

Cagliari Calcio

Cagliari Calcio is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. The club was formed in 1920 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, having spent a large part of recent years mainly in Serie A and Serie B....

 and Bari again before moving on to Lucchese

A.S. Lucchese-Libertas

Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Football Club Lucca 2011 is an Italian football club, based in Lucca, Tuscany that currently plays in Eccellenza Tuscany.The club was founded in 1905 and having last been in Serie A in 1952....

 where he would spend five years. Erbstein moved to Torino

Torino F.C.

Torino Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Torino, is a professional Italian football club based in Turin, Piedmont, that was founded in 1906. The club has spent most of its history in the top tier in Italian football....

 after that, but because of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and the fact that he was Jewish he returned to Hungary.

After the war Erbstein rejoined Torino, this time in the capacity of a trainer

Athletic trainer

An athletic trainer is a certified, health care professional who practices in the field of sports medicine. Athletic training has been recognized by the American Medical Association as an allied health care profession since 1990....

; this was one of the most noted spells in Italian football as the Torino side became known as Grande Torino. He along with Englishman Leslie Lievesley

Leslie Lievesley

Leslie Lievesley was an English footballer. His regular position was at full back. He was born in Staveley, Derbyshire. He started with Rossington Colliery before moving to Doncaster Rovers in 1929. After scoring 21 goals in 66 games, he was signed by Manchester United...

 were co-managers during the 1948–49 season. Disaster struck on 4 May 1949 when Erbstein and the majority of the Torino team died in the Superga air disaster

Superga air disaster

The Superga air disaster took place on Wednesday, 4 May 1949, when a plane carrying almost the entire Torino A.C. football squad, popularly known as Il Grande Torino, crashed into the hill of Superga near Turin killing all 31 aboard including 18 players, club officials, journalists accompanying the...

.