Hockey's greatest player barely touched a stick before joining the army
As a boy in Jhansi, Dhyan Chand preferred wrestling and could not recall playing any hockey worth mentioning. He picked it up after enlisting as a private on his 17th birthday, and went on to win three Olympic golds and earn the nicknames The Wizard and The Magician.
He was born in Allahabad on 29 August 1905. His father served in the British Indian Army and played hockey for it, and his constant transfers meant Dhyan's schooling stopped after six years before the family settled in Jhansi. He later studied at Aligarh Muslim University and graduated from Victoria College in Gwalior in 1932. His brother Roop Singh also became a hockey player.
Joining the 1st Brahmans on 29 August 1922, he spent four years playing only army tournaments and regimental matches. Selection for an Indian Army tour of New Zealand followed; the side won 18 games, drew two and lost one, then split two Tests with the national team. Back home he was made lance naik in 1927.
When hockey returned to the Olympics, the new Indian Hockey Federation held an inter-provincial tournament in 1928 to pick its team. Playing centre-forward for the United Provinces, Chand scored within three minutes of the first game and his stick-work made his place secure. The federation was so short of money that several provinces ignored its appeals, and the squad even lost a warm-up to a Bombay side before sailing for Europe. India took gold at Amsterdam in 1928, and again in 1932 and 1936; across 1928 to 1964 the country won seven of eight Olympic hockey titles.
By the count in his autobiography, Goal, he scored 570 goals in 185 international matches between 1926 and 1949, and more than 1,000 across his whole career. The BBC likened him to Muhammad Ali. India gave him the Padma Bhushan in 1956, marks his birthday as National Sports Day, and named its highest sporting award, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, after him. He died on 3 December 1979.
Source: Dhyan Chand
