He broke away from a tour in Italy in October 1977. At that time, the Araders used a championship break to play friendlies in Florence, Bologna and San Marino for two weeks. When the team returned to the bus from a visit to the port of Venice, Kappes was missing. He contacted his cousin in Baden-Württemberg and came to Germany. There he found football connections at TG Heilbronn in the first amateur league, where he played for two years. Until the founding of the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg in the 1978/79 season, this was the top amateur league and third-highest German league. Here he met someone who got him a job as a craftsman at the Lidl meat factory in Heilbronn. In the fall of 1983, a broken tibia ended his playing career.