BOMBAY, 10 October 2003 — If there ever was a true role-model for aspiring sportspersons in India to emulate, in the exercise of taking success with humility, he had to be sought. The man who epitomized all the right qualities and attitude one would like to see in a champion, was far removed from the ever-so-popular sports of cricket, football and hockey. His name sat with such honor and dignity on the green baize.

Wilson Jones, India’s first-ever individual world champion, was hardly celebrated as such. One is not sure whether he will even be mourned as a true world champion ought to be. The ingratitude of India’s sporting world was seen a few months ago, when he was seriously ill. It was sad to see that only a few close friends showed concern and even sent out appeals for help in his hour of need. The reprieve was short and he breathed his last on Saturday at the age of 81.

Jones served the game of billiards for six long decades and took it out of the dingy betting saloons to a wider and more respectable arenas. By being the first to win the world title, which he did in 1958, he inspired a whole generation of world champions in the likes of Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi, Manoj Kothari and Om Agrawal (Snooker). World titles, both amateur and professional, came to the Indians no less than 14 times, after Wilson himself won it again in 1964. Today, there are potential world champions among teenagers, who have taken to the game in a big way.

Wilson’s triumph also lighted the path for youngsters to believe that Indians too can be among the best in the world, given the hard work, dedication and the honesty of purpose shown by someone like Wilson Jones. Those who took inspiration from him, include Sunil Gavaskar and Prakash Padukone, each a world-class performer in his own right.

A player with a deft touch and great powers of concentration, Wilson turned the precision game into a fine art. As he marched on from success to success, he never for once left his humility.

He did not show any rancor or ill-feeling even when fate and authority were so blatantly unkind to him. In 1958, Wilson made history by bringing the first ever individual world title to India. No one in authority, however, thought it fit to confer any national honor on him. Lesser achievers walked away with the Padma awards.

When criticism in newspapers highlighted this glaring omission and grave injustice, ministerial apologies that followed must have hurt Jones even more. An official note said “The Ministry erroneously believed that Wilson Jones was a foreigner.” It took eight years for that big mistake to be corrected.

The title of Padma Shri was finally conferred on him in 1966, after he had won the world title again.

Today’s sportspersons fight authority and also among themselves for such honors and use the media to hit back for what they consider an unjust act.

The ever-so-modest Wilson Jones took all the insults and humiliation in his stride like a true champion. Perhaps. It was his mentor’s plight more than his own that made Mike Ferreira take up cudgels against all and sundry for a fair deal for the only game in which India has produced so many world champions. Ferreira’s campaign helped the game of billiards to get promoters, sponsors and TV coverage.

Every inch a gentleman, to his very last day, Wilson hardly expected any returns, monetary or otherwise, for his stupendous achievements. He furrowed a thankless path to promote the game, which Indians, being deft touch-artists, take to so naturally. He gave his all and hardly received anything in return.

A great champion and a greater human being, will we ever see the likes of Wilson Jones again? If not in life, at least in death, let us honor India’s first world champion and, in all respects, the humblest and the noblest of them all.