The club was founded in 1948, three years after Polish borders had moved westward and the city of Zabrze became part of the Polish Republic. Górnik was patterned after several smaller sports associations that had existed in Zabrze between 1945 and 1948 – KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogoń, KS Skra, and KS Concordia. The clubs merged into a single organization, which took the name "Górnik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre.