Read more about his accomplishments below. In the photo we see him giving instructions to one EMUs best long jumpers,Therman Kirkland.
Coach Singh was instrumental in helping me to attain All American status in the triple jump. He was a brilliant field events technician and his talents were in high demand. In spite of having limited access to his skills, I still benefited greatly from the limited instructions I was able to receive.
This web page is my testimonial of how Coach Singh helped me to attain All American status in the triple jump. However, I was not the only athlete who benefited from his knowledge. The following description by Bill Kouvolo is yet another testimonial of Coach Singh's intellectual brilliance and his love for his athletes. Bill Kouvolo was an EMU All American and 1970 Division II national champion in the javelin throw.
Good morning, Doctor Larkins!
In searching for information regarding Ranvir Singh, I discovered your website. I remember you as a wonderful jumper that was influenced by Coach Singh.
When my father and I visited EMU, Coach Parks promised that I would be receiving personal coaching regarding how to throw the javelin far. That did not happen.
One day, when I was tossing the javelin in practice, Ranvir approached me and started to mimic a javelin thrower using his left leg as a block. He then found some rocks and directed me to throw the rock while turning my right leg into the left leg block. I remember my body lurching up off the block for the very first time ever! I learned that I was an arm thrower, who didn't know how to convert the momentum of my run into the throw!
Looking back, I remember Coach Singh urging me and other athletes to go for a walk after dinner with him at an important away meet. He liked to talk about his 'fancy' (fiancee) coming to EMU.
Unfortunately, I was young and dumb in that I didn't realize his status as a coach and did not ask him questions that I should have asked at that time.
My best to you and yours!
Bill Kouvolo
Ranvir Singh was not only a great coach at EMU, before coming to EMU and the US he had been one of
India's national coaches. In fact, he has been given credit as being instrumental in developing
India's greatest track athlete, Milkha Singh (no relation to Ranvir). Milkha Singh won gold medals
in the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. He also represented India in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne,
the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Because Ranvir was instrumental in Milkha's success, his coaching accomplishments have now been immortalized
in a movie,
"Bhaag Milkha Bhaag"
Movie Poster for
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
(transl. "Run Milkha Run"). Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was a 2013 Indian biographical sports drama depicting the
running career of one of Ranvir's proteges, Milkha Singh.
In the movie, the role of Coach Singh was played by Yograj Singh (again no relation to Ranvir).
In an article called "Meet Milkha's Coach" published 19 June 2013, Yograj describes his role as follows:
"It’s a pretty big role. It’s about how this man discovers Milkha as an amateur, teaches him how to run
with spikes and stays with him right till the time he becomes the champion of the world.
There are a lot of intense scenes like Milkha’s training in Ladakh where he starts bleeding and yet his
coach goads him on to run faster. The man is ruthless with Milkha, but at the same time, he loves him like
his own son. There are some really lovely moments between Milkha Singh and Ranbir Singh… he touches his
coach’s feet before going for a race and his coach hugs him and kisses his forehead. It’s so much like
father and son." Quote above taken from
"The Telegraph online".
There is a great deal written about Milkha Singh and the movie "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", so if you would like to
know more about this amazing athlete, the highly acclaimed movie about his life, as well as Coach Ranvir Singh,
you can start with this Wikipedia Article about
Milkha Singh's life .
Regarding the popup poster art above, the copyright is believed to belong to
Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, ROMP Pictures.
The image is a scaled-down low-resolution image and used only to provide critical commentary on the film
==Licensing==
{{Non-free poster|Fair use images of movie posters}}