Józef Szkolnikowski (English)

Z Historia Wisły

Józef Leon Szkolnikowski was born on March 13, 1889, in the Kuna estate in Podolia. He attended secondary school in Krakow, where one of his teachers at the Second Realschule School was Tadeusz Łopuszański. One day in 1906, Łopuszański kept his students after class and proposed to them... the creation of a football club. This way, Szkolnikowski became a co-founder of Wisła Kraków. Only a few sources have survived from those pioneering years, but we know that from 1906 to 1907, Szkolnikowski played as a goalkeeper and was one of the leading figures in the team, to the extent that he was considered the first captain of Wisła. It is also possible that he proposed the name "Wisła" itself. This name had its significance - the queen of Polish rivers connected Poles regardless of the partition borders. Łopuszański and his students wanted football to unite Poles in a similar way.

Józef Szkolnikowski's career as a player was short, but he remained associated with the club for many years. Already during the Galician period, he became involved in Wisła and held various positions, including the role of secretary. His signature can be found on the oldest surviving membership cards of Wisła Kraków.

Szkolnikowski decided to pursue a career as a professional soldier and began his service in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During World War I, he earned numerous decorations for bravery. At the same time, he became involved in the independence conspiracy. Bolesław Roja, during preparations for the Polish takeover of power in Krakow, appointed Szkolnikowski as the commander of sappers. He also instructed him to gather explosive materials. The Wisła player collected 60 kilograms of explosives and, with the help of a friendly monk, hid them in the Capuchin monastery. These materials were intended to be used, if necessary, to sabotage the movements of the Austrian forces. However, Krakow was liberated without bloodshed, and one of the first decisions of the Polish military authorities was to promote Szkolnikowski to the rank of captain.

At the same time as the rebirth of independent Poland, the reactivation of Wisła Kraków was taking place - the club had suspended its activities during the war. In the summer of 1918, former players began to return to Krakow from the fronts of the Great War and decided to restore the functioning of their team. Initially, the Wisła players approached Bolesław Komorowski to take on the position of president of the reactivated club - he was the last president before the suspension of activities. However, Komorowski did not accept this role - at that time, the responsibility for the club was taken over by Szkolnikowski, and from 1919 to 1921, he led Wisła through one of the most challenging periods in its history. The reactivated club did not have its own field, equipment, or financial means, and the players - due to Poland's difficult political situation - often had to fight for the country's borders instead of chasing a ball. Szkolnikowski himself had immense merits in this field - he fought in defense of Lviv and in the Polish-Bolshevik War, and as a sapper, he commanded the demolition of the bridge near Kyiv.

Undoubtedly, the fact that in such a politically and economically difficult period, under the leadership of Józef Szkolnikowski, Wisła managed to build solid foundations for the club's further development, deserves great admiration. In 1922, Wisła opened its own stadium, and in the following years, it achieved its first national successes - starting with the Krakow district championship in 1923, followed by the Polish Cup in 1926, and culminating in back-to-back national championships in 1927-28. However, Szkolnikowski was forced to limit his role in the club due to military duties. In 1922, he was promoted to major, and his service outside Krakow reduced his opportunities for involvement in the club's activities. Szkolnikowski handed over the presidency to Wilhelm Śliwiński, but he did not abandon his work for Wisła - he was involved, among other things, in the football section and the economic committee.

Szkolnikowski made significant contributions to the development of Polish sports not only through Wisła Kraków. He was also the president of the Kraków District Football Association, one of the founders of the Polish Football Association (PZPN), and the first vice president in the history of the football governing body. As the chairman of the Games Department of the PZPN, he served as the selector of the Polish national team in its historic first match against Hungary in 1921. Besides football, Szkolnikowski's other great sporting passion was athletics. As a Wisła member, he served as a referee in top-level competitions, including the Olympic Games in 1928 in Amsterdam.

In 1939, Major Szkolnikowski was mobilized and sent to Kołomyia in the Stanisławów Voivodeship to oversee the fortification of the city. Through Romania, he joined the Polish Armed Forces in the West, initially in France (where he was injured in the foot - he had to use a walking stick for the rest of his life), and later in the United Kingdom. After the war, he decided to return to Poland, although he was likely aware that in the new political realities, he could face harassment from the authorities. On May 13, 1947, he arrived in Gdańsk by ship and headed to his family in Katowice. Interestingly, Wisła remembered its co-founder and president, and in 1946 - while Szkolnikowski was still in England - they honored him with a commemorative badge for the club's 40th anniversary.

In Poland, Szkolnikowski faced difficulties in finding employment and securing a means of livelihood. His status as a pre-war officer and a soldier of the Polish Armed Forces in the West would have brought him glory under different circumstances, but in post-1945 Poland, he faced harassment because of it. Despite his knowledge of several foreign languages, Szkolnikowski remained unemployed for a long time. Eventually, he found employment as a receptionist in an office. His health deteriorated, and he passed away from a heart attack in 1958. He was buried in the cemetery in Katowice.