mo4ch:> Samar Banerjee: The man who led India to the semi-finals in the 1956 Olympics | Mo4ch News

Samar Banerjee holds the distinction of winning the Santosh trophy both as a player and a coach...Grand stories often have very humble beginnings. Samar, alias Badru, Banerjee's tale also treads along the same lines. Born to Sasanka Sekhar Banerjee in Bali, Howrah district, on January 30, 1930, he grew up in a household where football was a way of life. Almost every evening, an informal 'adda' session would take place in the courtyard of his house and a young Badru would listen in awe to the various stories of the Kolkata Maidan. "My father was very strict. He would scold me a lot for ignoring my studies but in spite of that, I would go there and listen to the elders talking about Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Mohammedan Sporting, and various other clubs of the Maidan. I was shoved away many times but my attention would always be there," recounted Banerjee almost a year back in an interview to the Mohun Bagan website. Editors' PicksFrom a very tender age, he went…