Known for his philanthropist in sports and culture, hardly one can exhaust the history of Kenyan athletics without mentioning the name of Nyandika Maiyoro.
Born in 1931 at Kiogoro in the current Kisii County, Nyandika is one of pioneers of Kenyan athletics despite little recognition at the global arena.
"My intention was to run and make my country proud. Those days we never used to know much about money," he said in a past interview.
He added: "But with the current pay, one is tempted to sell patriotism just to make money. That is the difference between classical athletes and those we see these days."
But Nyandika remains one of the few athletes to ever make international mark by running on bare foot and eventually clinching gold.
At Indian Ocean games in Madagascar (1953), Maiyoro could join 3000 meters race late and eventually beat all other athletes while running without shoes.
In 1954 he finished fourth in commonwealth games and would get 6th position in Olympic games of 1960.
He would later be recruited as one of sports officials in Nyamira District and later on manager of Gusii stadium.