He suffered from severe bouts of self-doubts. After poor performances in games, his wife would allegedly lock him in the bedroom for days with the curtains drawn.
Was often so nervous before games that he would spend the time just before them in a bathroom, being sick.
Said to have replied personally to every greeting card he ever received.
The oldest of five siblings (Ludwig Jr., Ottmar, Sonja and Gisela) of a mother from Berlin and a father from Rhineland-Palatinate. His parents owned a restaurant.
In his spare time, he enjoyed painting (impressionism).
Both he and his brother Ottmar Walter were members of the German national football team in 1954 when they won the World Cup.
Parents: Ludwig and Dorothea.
A bout of malaria left him with a lifelong extreme meteoropathy, resulting in poor performances when the sun was shining and world class performances when it was raining.