Famous workers

Berczelly Tibor
Tibor Berczelly graduated from Ludovika and became a team officer, fencer and sports shooter, and worked as a chief supervisor for Magyar Nemzeti Bank after World War II. As a fencer, he was a peer and teammate to Aladár Gerevich. He was three-time Olympic champion in team events,and once placed third in an individual event. He was a four-time World Championship team champion who also placed second and third individually. His versatility is demonstrated by his excellence in pistol shooting, where he became a national team champion, but real success came in sabre fencing and épée fencing. With his gold medal in sports shooting, he became a Hungarian champion 29 times in total.

 

Dr. Imre Hajós
The Tourist Trophy motorcycle race was organised for the third time in Zugliget by the Royal Hungarian Automobile Club in 1926. Vitez Miklós Horthy junior applied in the unlimited category; however, he was unable to compete as a result of an accident suffered a few days prior. Eventually, Dr. Imre Hajós, an official of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, won the race with his Scott motorcycle. The official of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank quit racing due to family reasons.

Ferenc Bolváry
Bolváry worked for the Magyar Nemzeti Bank as of 1932 as the supervisor of the pengő team. He started to compose music for actress Juliska Németh in the 1920s, later he moved to Paris and worked as a secretary for the famous French Cartier brand. He also composed music for The Fight of Women play which premiered in the Pesti Theatre in 1942. Songs in the play are inspired by contemporary French music. The official of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank collaborated with songwriter Béla Endrődi several times, they composed music for “Miss Polka Dots” together. Endrődi made the following statement about his fellow composer in 1942: “Ferenc Bolváry, who composed several beautiful cabaret chansons back at that time when the world was fond of other nightclub singers, composed music that was sweet, Hungarian, sultry andrich in melody. He was a supervisor for Magyar Nemzeti Bank, and also a brother to the excellent director Géza Bolváry.” The composers are famous for their songs With swords and crosses and Lilacs are blooming.

 

Aladár Gerevich
Aladár Gerevich, who worked as an official of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank between 1937 and 1971, made his mark as one of the most successful athletes of the Olympic games of all times as a professional fencer. His father was a professional and master fencer, who soon recognised his son’s talent and appointed the legendary Italian-born professional fencer Italo Santelli to be the instructor of the young Gerevich. Aladár Gerevich achieved success after success both as an individual and team player and his Olympic career spanned 28 years. He was a six-time Olympic champion as a team player and won one bronze, one silver and one gold medal as an individual player. He also won one bronze medal as a team player in epee fencing. Besides his Olympic medals, he also won 19 gold, silver, and bronze medals at the World and European (unofficial world) Championships. He was a team member of Tibor Berczelly who also worked from the MNB. When people questioned his status in the national team before the 1960 Summer Games, he challenged and defeated all the young players in the team. “Uncle Ali” won an Olympic gold even at the age of 50.

József Mayer
Veteran table tennis player József Mayer worked for Magyar Nemzeti Bank for 42 years. He started his career as a loan specialist and finished it as a human resources manager. He played table tennis in the first division for twenty years and was a member of the team of Magyar Nemzeti Bank between 1956 and 1961. He was not only a professional player but also worked as a coach for the MNB team for 30 years. He participated at the European Veterans Championships in Prague for the first time in 1997 but returned without a medal. However, he did not have to wait long for success, winning his first European Championship medal in 2005, and a total of two gold, five bronze and a World Championship silver medal in Alicante in 2016 during his veteran career. He has been a medallist 96 times during his veteran years, including 70 first places, 14 second places and 12 third places. As he said: “work comes first, table tennis comes second, and family comes third.” As revealed in an interview with the television show Facial Features in 2018, he did not surrender to old age after his European championship successes, worked out twice a week and encouraged everybody to exercise on a regular basis. József Mayer celebrates his 90th birthday this year.

Source: Nemzeti Sport, A magyar sport nagy pillanatai, Oltványi Imre fotóművészet