Career
He earned 21 caps between 1954 and 1958. 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 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.
Playing for 1. Football Club 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.