TRIBUTE TO K N K NAIR
10/07/2021
10th July 2021 - Kerala lost another basketball coach of high order KN K Nair former Air force and Calicut university coach also the brother of KS Nair former International National referee and coach He was an inspiration for many young college basketball players is no more , he was 86 survived by his wife Kamalavathy Nair and three daughters Sindhu Nair, Indu Nair and Sudha Nair. Born in Subramaniapuram in Alleppey to Damodaran Pillai and Kamalakhi Amma, he had two sisters who are no more and one young brother K.S. Nair who was a former basketball coach of Kerala Sports Council
He was ailing for the past few months after being diagnosed with symptoms of Alzheimer's followed by other multiple medical issues.
He devoted his life lastly in spiritual activities as staunch follower of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and was devotedly involved in their seva actitvities - perhaps most of all, for the authenticity through which he lived his life.
I know Nair Sir from early 80s . He was a great friend for me through Bevin Chacko sir and Alex sir a great mentor and support to many of our playing members especially in Calicut and with his strict Discipline that he preached, I met him last during the FEASTO Tournament in 2020 before the start of the pandemic
K.N.K. Nair, a product of S.D. College Alleppey took to the game of basketball In 1955 .K.N.K. joined Indian Air Force and from 1958 to 1964 he represented their team in the Inter Services Basketball Tournaments. During that period Indian Air Force had a formidable basketball team under the captaincy of K.N.K. Nair with players like A. Sukumaran (Kannur), Varghese (Ernakulam), Chidambaram (Coimbatore) etc. One of his close friends in the basketball circle was Services player M. Bhaskaran of Palakkad who retired as wing commander. The year 1959 - 60 may have been Nair's best playing years as he played for Services in Nationals, remembers former International Player and coach KV Alexander . Later he completed N.I.S. Diploma, he became the first professional basketball coach of Indian Air Force. Being a professional coach, Nair was entrusted, the responsibility of coaching Indian Air Force Team for the Inter Services Tournament at Pune. For the next three years Nair was their coach cum player. In the Air Force he moulded several players and one of them K.V. Alexander wore Indian colours. Players like A.K.N. Nambiar and M.C. John rose to national level.
In Calicut University the some i remember were International players, Unwin Antony Jaishankar Menon, Seshadri, Johnny Augustine, Sunny Thomas, Ashokan and in women leelamma Santhosh, Jeena Zacharia,Ivy Cherian etc and players like Abdul Majeed, Philip Zacharia ,robin antony , Praveen , Paul mampally KV jayanth , Nizar Ahamed Johnson , harikrishnan etc .
After his fifteen years of service in the Air Force, he retired from there as Sergeant and joined Calicut University in the year 1970 as their basketball coach. With his distinctive style, commitment to excellence, and clear sense of purpose, he transported Calicut University into a power to be reckoned with in the game of basketball. In 1984 Calicut men team became South Zone Inter University Champions and was also placed third position in the All India Inter University Championship held at Hisar. They repeated the same feat as South zone Inter University Champions in the year 1991 - 92. While Nair trained University women team in 1989 - 90, they became runners-up in the All India Inter University Championship. However the highlight of Nair's coaching career was when he took Indian Junior Team to 1982 A.B.C. (Asian Basketball Confederation) Championships at Manila remembers P. J. Sunny of B.F.I. who was the Technical delegate of that team.