From US athletics stars Tom Rosandich and JC ‘Jesse’ Owens to a canteen operator he remembers as Hameed, they inspired him to become a star on the field.

Karu, as he is known thanks to a surname misnomer, also speaks of the likes of Teerath Ram, the principal of his alma mater Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) in Ipoh, and teachers R Rasathurai, Lee Hoo Keat and M Kesavan, when he talks about those who have helped to make him a champion in a variety of sports at school as well as at the state, national and international levels.

For the 83-year-old Karu, they are all legends.

His first race

Karu’s active involvement in sports did not start until he turned 15. At that age, he was serving as water-boy and junior quartermaster where he was involved in dyeing singlets in blue for the runners of Tagore House at his school.

One day, when the school’s 4x400m star runner M Shanmuganathan came down with a hamstring injury, Karu was ordered by the housemaster, Rasathurai, who was also a state footballer, to take his place on the field.

“It was my first and I ran the race of my life,” he told FMT at the 129th anniversary celebration of the Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley chapter of the ACS Ipoh alumni recently.

His team won the race and for Karu, that was his lucky break and the start of a journey that would see him emerge as a formidable athlete.

Karu recalled how Teerath Ram was determined to keep ACS Ipoh’s legacy as a premier sporting school, having produced numerous sportsmen who had gone on to compete at the Olympics and other international sporting events.

Zeroing in on athletics

Karu said that during a sports clinic at school, US athletics coach Rosandich spotted him doing the long jump and running the 400m and urged him to focus on running.

“I was also inspired by the determination, dedication and the desire to succeed like the legendary Owens (who won four golds in track and field events at the 1936 Berlin Olympics),” he recalled.

On finishing school Karu found work as a temporary teacher before he joined the Royal Malayan Navy as an apprentice artificer.

He enrolled at the British Royal Navy’s Sembawang Dockyard Training College in Singapore in 1961 and graduated in 1965.

Karu, who earned a paltry monthly allowance of RM90 as an apprentice, said Hameed — who operated a canteen at the naval base — took a liking to his sporting prowess and gave him free nutritional meals to boost his energy and strength.

The year after he graduated, Karu was selected for training as a short-service commission cadet at the Britannia Royal Navy College (BRNC) in Dartmouth, England.

On his return from England he searched for Hameed, whom he said had likely spent a then princely few thousand dollars sponsoring his meals, to repay him. Unfortunately, he never found his benefactor.

Picking up the bat

Even at school, when he was not clocking up the miles on the field, Karu was swinging the cricket bat.

He paid tribute to Perak cricketer Kesavan who helped to sharpen his batting and bowling skills.

“I found that my athletics training was of tremendous help to my cricket, as it developed my aerobic and anaerobic endurance,” Karu said.

He went on to represented Malaya as an opening batsman in the Inter-Port cricket match against Singapore in 1960.

Karu will always remember those who have helped to make him a sports star.

“Looking back, these were some of those who provided steadfast grounding to shape, groom and nurture me during my young, budding years,” he added.