Ernst Huberty – this name resonates with a world. The golden days of the "Sportschau", when you were not allowed to call on Saturdays between 18.00 and 19.00 for heaven's sake. When you still cursed because only three Bundesliga games were shown and of course there wasn't the game you had wished for.

But there's more to the name Huberty. He stands for the somewhat staid, but at the same time endearingly unagitated correctness of the old Federal Republic. Ernst Huberty died on 24 April at the age of 96. "As a sports reporter legend, he will be remembered by all of us forever," said WDR Director General Tom Buhrow.

"Schnellinger, of all people"

If "Tagesschau" spokesman Karl-Heinz Köpcke (1922 to 1991) was the one who freed the German news from the barking commissary tone of the Nazi era, then "Mister Sportschau" Ernst Huberty did just that for sports reporting. His commentary style was calm and restrained, even in highly emotional moments.

Significantly, his most famous reporter words are "Schnellinger, of all people". That was in 1970, when Karl-Heinz Schnellinger scored the equaliser in the 90th minute of the World Cup semi-final against Italy – he of all people, who had been playing in Italy for years. Huberty didn't shout that. He just said it.

Born in Trier, the son of a Luxembourger, he was brought to WDR at the end of the 1950s by Werner Höfer ("Der Internationale Frühschoppen") and was part of the "Sportschau", which was launched in 1961, from the very beginning. He was the man who hosted the very first "sports show" on June 4, 1961.

Two years later, the Bundesliga was founded. Ernst Huberty's question to the then president of 1st FC Cologne: "What can a licensed player earn in the Bundesliga?" Answer: "The licensed player may earn between 250 and 500 marks basic salary plus bonuses – a total of 1200 marks."

Everyone knew Ernst Huberty

Initially, the footage had to be driven by motorcycle couriers from the stadiums to the transmitter in Cologne. The clubs paid money for it in gratitude – not the other way around. In the 1970s, the "Sportschau" was a cult. Everyone, really everyone, knew Ernst Huberty with his neatly combed silver folding parting. Up to 15 million viewers tuned in each time. At that time, the Saturday ritual for millions of young German hopefuls looked like this: Firstly, a football pitch. Secondly, "sports show". Thirdly, bathtub.

Then came the deep fall in 1982: Because of an expense scandal, Huberty was dismissed as WDR sports director and banished to the Third Program. Others would have been embittered, but not him. Ten years later, looking back, he said: "The bottom line is that I learned a lot in my life and that I had to change completely, do a completely different job in this house, and that did me a lot of good, it was tremendously important for my whole life."

Until the age of 87, he still trained presenters. Oliver Welke described an almost unbelievable incident in a WDR homage to Huberty's ninetieth: "I once had a coaching appointment with him, and he was a little bit late, which is very unusual because Ernst Huberty always arrives super punctual. I noticed that there was suddenly a bit of smoke in the room. And then he said in his perfect way that he had to apologize, that he smelled a little like smoke, that his house had burned down yesterday." Together with his wife Inge, he had just managed to save himself. But, of course, this was no reason for him to cancel the appointment.

Whether he was afraid of death, Huberty was asked in 2017 in the WDR film by today's "Sportschau" boss Steffen Simon. "Not really," was the laconic reply. Perhaps, thanks to modern medicine, he will live a little longer. "We'll see." To then correct himself: "I don't. You'll see."