 His commitment to a half-a-day employment as sales representative for a manufacturer of sports goods forced him to hang up his boots that summer.Höttges put job before club, unwilling to give up his business, and got named "Ehrenspielführer" ("honorary captain") due to his career efforts by Werder Bremen.Later on he was showing up for some time on amateur level for Bad Oeynhausen's SC Oberbecksen and TSV Achim, a club in a village near Bremen, where he settled down.