No other president at Borussia Dortmund stands as much for both rise and fall as Dr. Gerd Niebaum, born in Luenen on October 23, 1948. He was elected president in 1986 as successor to Dr. Reinhard Rauball and was seen as a beacon of hope.\n\nBringing local sponsors aboard and leading the club into Europe as a fourth-place finisher only a year after the near-relegation of 1986 was just the beginning of a new black-and-yellow euphoria.
The philosophy was simple: rise with players from the region. In 1986 Dortmund surprisingly signed star striker Frank Mill from namesake Borussia Moenchengladbach.\n\nTogether with Norbert Nobby Dickel, he would form a strike duo half the league envied. Frankie and Nobby fired BVB into the last sixteen of the UEFA Cup in 1987 and to the DFB Cup in 1989, the first title in 23 years.
The reception for the heroes of Berlin at Dortmund's Friedensplatz became part of the city's history.\n\nAnother transfer masterstroke in the early years of Niebaum's presidency was the surprising signing of Andreas Moeller from Frankfurt.