Bernd Franke is a former German football player. Also an outfield player in his youth, young Bernd Franke made his steps towards the professional game following his impressiveness in the ranks of Saar 05 Saarbr�cken. Their manager, Otto Knefler, remembered the young goalkeeper during his spell at Fortuna D�sseldorf and took him to D�sseldorf then. It was in 1971 when Knefler had been employed by Bundesliga side Eintracht Braunschweig and signed Franke once again, this time considering decent backup's for Horst Wolter, Braunschweig's regular goalkeeper. Instantly Franke ousted the former international goalkeeper, but could not stop his club from getting relegated in 1973. Poised to join 1. FC Kaiserslautern from relegated Braunschweig that summer, Franke rejected the chance of staying a Bundesliga player in the year before the 1974 FIFA World Cup. In 1974 he was back in the Bundesliga with Braunschweig, as reliable as usual, enjoying a third-place finish in 1977. It was just days ahead of the 1978 FIFA World Cup when Franke finally started to fall prey to injuries, failing to report for first-team fixtures due to injuries in the remaining years of his career from time to time. 

February 12th, 1948 in (Age 76)