Walter de Sousa

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameWalter Louis Joseph•de Sousa
Used nameWalter•de Sousa
Other namesWalter D'Souza
Born16 December 1920 in Mbale, Eastern (UGA)
Died23 August 1989 in Mumbai, Maharashtra (IND)
AffiliationsBombay
NOC India
Medals OG
Gold 1
Silver 0
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

A member of the Indian Field Hockey Team that took the gold medal at the 1948 Olympic competition, Walter D’Souza’s athletic career lasted around two decades. In 1943 he joined the Lusitanian Hockey Team and helped them take the Provincial Cup, the Lewis Cup, the Willie Fernandes Trophy and second place in the competition for the field hockey Aga Khan Trophy. That same year, he also joined the Young Goans Football club and won his first of three successive Nadkarni Cups with the team. He captained the Lusitanians in 1944 and 1945, winning the Aga Khan Trophy and achieving second place for the Lewis Cup. In 1952, he began playing soccer for Bombay and in 1954 and 1955 he captained the city’s field hockey team. As captain of the Indian Cultural League, he won the Indian Football Association’s Shield, the first time a team outside of Calcutta had won the honor. He left the Lusitanians in 1956 to play for Burma Shell and continued to play for various teams on and off through 1968. In 1976 he was the selector of the Indian National Hockey Team that won its first (and, as of 2006, only) Hockey World Cup.

After this, his health and eyesight began to fail and he died in 1989. His funeral was attended by many prominent field hockey players, including Lawrie Fernandes and Leo Pinto. A year before his death, he was awarded The Bakshi Bahaddar Jiva Kerkar State Award For Excellence In Sports By The Government Of Goa and the city of Bombay honored him by founding the Walter de Sousa Garden near the Metro Cinema in 1993.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1948 Summer Olympics Hockey IND Walter de Sousa
Hockey, Men (Olympic) India 1 Gold