Balbir Singh Sr was a legend in Indian hockey and is widely regarded as one of the best center-forwards in the game’s history.
His craft provided tremendous delight to the country and helped it build its own identity in the years following independence. He was the indisputable lynchpin of the Indian hockey team’s second hat-trick of Olympic golds — in 1948, 1952, and 1956.
Balbir Singh was born in Punjab to Karam Kaur and Dalip Singh Dosanjh, a freedom fighter, and spent much of his childhood without his father, who traveled extensively and was frequently imprisoned.
Balbir Singh Sr had been enthralled with hockey since he was five years old, and when he saw the Indian hockey team win their third Olympic gold medal in 1936 as a 12-year-old, he already knew what he wanted to accomplish with his life.
He began his career as a goalkeeper, then switched to the back four, but it was at a local event that he discovered his true calling as a striker for the first time.
His rising star should have earned him an automatic selection for India’s Olympic hockey team in 1948, but the officials ‘forgot’ to consider him. Only Dickie Carr, a gold medallist with the hockey team in 1932, was able to get him on the plane to London.
He set the record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men’s hockey final with five goals versus the Netherlands.
He breathed his last in May 2020 at the age of 96.