| Fritz Herkenrath | |
| Birth Date: | 9 September 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Cologne, Germany |
| Position: | Goalkeeper |
| Years1: | 1946–1951 |
| Clubs1: | Preußen Dellbrück |
| Years2: | 1951–1952 |
| Clubs2: | 1. FC Köln |
| Years3: | 1952–1965 |
| Clubs3: | Rot-Weiss Essen |
| Nationalyears1: | 1954–1958 |
| Nationalteam1: | West Germany |
| Nationalcaps1: | 21 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
Friedrich "Fritz" Herkenrath (9 September 1928 in Cologne – 18 April 2016) was a football goalkeeper for West Germany at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He earned 21 caps between 1954 and 1958.[1]
He took his club team Rot-Weiss Essen to the peak of its history and won a national championship in 1955. The following season, Rot-Weiss Essen became the first German side to qualify for the European Cup.
Initially, Herkenrath played handball. He started out as a right winger and only later became a goalkeeper. Soon after World War II, Herkenrath switched from handball to football. Herkenrath began studying at the German Sport University Cologne where he first encountered Sepp Herberger, who was a tutor there.[2] Playing for 1. FC Köln in the early 1950s, Herkenrath was mostly the second goalkeeper behind the Dutchman Frans de Munck. He joined Rot-Weiß Essen in 1952 and soon rose to prominence playing for Essen. Herkenrath became known as the "flying schoolmaster" due to his main occupation as a teacher.
He retired in 1962 after 336 games in the Oberliga West and became a professor at the college of education in Aachen.[3] He died on April 18, 2016, at the age of 87.[4]