Hüsamettin Böke

Hüsamettin Böke — Biography

Hüsamettin Böke was born on 10 April 1910 in Istanbul and died in the same city on 26 December 1995. Born in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, he was a goalkeeper who went on to work as a referee and as a club official.

He is most closely associated with two Istanbul clubs, Vefa and Fenerbahçe. He was part of the Vefa side that finished runner-up in the 1926-27 İstanbul Football League, one of the greatest achievements in that club's history. At Fenerbahçe, where he reached the peak of his career, he won a string of titles and kept goal in one of the intercontinental derby matches out of which his club's great rivalry with Galatasaray grew.

After retiring as a player he returned to the pitch as a referee, staying involved in Turkish football through officiating and administration during the decades in which the domestic game became formally organised.