It is indeed an honour to write about the great stalwart Sri Mangalam Chinnaswamy. He was a born leader, cricket administrator and a great cricket enthusiast, though he never actually bowled or batted during his years. I was closely associated with him for over 40 years.
Chinnaswamy came into prominence when he took over as the Hon. Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, by sheer accident, after fighting for a cause during a match at the Gymkhana grounds organised by the cricket association and Army authorities in 1952-53. He took over in 1953-54 and remained as the most hard working secretary for 25 long years, supported by stalwarts like J P Mallaradhya, SASrinivasan, KS Krishnaswamy, Dr Thimmapaiah, C Nagaraj and other like-minded youngsters, cricketers and cricket enthusiasts.
He was outspoken, frank, honest with a firm hand and had a noble heart. He was a very simple man, who loved meeting elders and youngsters with zeal and humour. Everyone loved him for his sincerity.
Despite being a prominent legal advisor to many institutions and the president of the great MES Educational Institutions, he still found time for development of cricket in the state and the country. He was held in high esteem and commanded a lot of respect.
He was instrumental in bringing KSCA to the present level, helped by many eminent people who were responsible in prevailing upon the Karnataka government to allot the ground for cricket in the prestigious MG Road area in 1969. This was the year the cricket association moved into the new venue from Central College grounds.
His ambition to build a good cricket stadium and cricket ground was accomplished by his sheer hard work, day-to-day supervision and great vision, being well supported by an enthusiastic band of young workers including C.Nagaraj and Thimmappaiah, who carried out his instructions and suggestions implicitly.
Stadium, stands, pavilion came into existence within a short period of 3 to 4 years. Everything was done in great style, despite financial constraints. In 1969, when the activities were shifted to the new ground, I was entrusted with preparing a cricket ground with good wickets of international standards. It was done in a very short time and maintained to perfection. He never interfered with the job entrusted to me.
It was a great day when the first Test match against the West Indies was played on this ground. Improvement in the stadium, pavillion and ground conditions enabled the BCCI in allotting more matches to this venue.
After completion of the stadium work, his attention was directed towards creating the prestigious Club House. All the achievement attained by him made him very popular and he became a strong favourite with the BCCI. He served as Joint secretary, secretary, vice president and finally as president from 1977 to 1980. Earlier he represented BCCI in the International Cricket Council meeting for a number of years. The KSCA Stadium was named as M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, much against his wishes.
He was always very kind and accommodative with the Press and Media.
He guided many young budding cricketers and was responsible for many of them to get recognition in BCCI. Likewise, the good standard of KSCA umpires was recognised which helped them become Test umpires. Statisticians were also encouraged. It is a very good augury that Chinnaswamy’s bust is being unveiled in the premises of KSCA. I only wish this was done during his heydays.