Deep in the northern Italian province of Brescia, in a small town called Montichiari, is a multi-purpose indoor stadium that hosts basketball and volleyball matches, including those of the volleyball club from Monza. The name of the stadium?The locals call it PalaGeorge. Its full, official name? Palazzetto Jimmy George. For a town in north Italy to name a stadium after someone from north Kerala, that person must have been quite special; and Jimmy George was special. Before his tragic death in a road accident aged 32, he took Indian volleyball to heights unheard of (and untouched since). If the Indian players of today consider competing with the best in the world, George lived it.Schooled entirely in Kerala, George was a volleyball natural who went from (in global volleyball terms) the middle of nowhere to the world’s biggest stage.He was a Kerala state player at 16, captain of that team at 19 years old. By 21, he was an Arjuna Award winner. He dropped out of medical school to become a professional and was soon declared the best player in the Persian Gulf when he played at Abu Dhabi Sports Club. By the time he turned 27, he had become the first Indian to move to a top European league - and he had gone to the top European league, in Italy.He was also the leader of the Indian team that won bronze in the Asian Games. It was in his prime, though, in Italy, that he died in a car accident in 1987.
