As a wing half, represented the country in the 1956 Melbourne and 1960 Rome Olympics. He had also played for the country in the International Quadrangle Football tournament, played in the now Bangladesh in 1955 and in Asian Games held in Japan in 1958. He also played for Mysore in the inter-provincial Santosh Trophy.
In 1956, he moved to Calcutta and played till 1964 with distinction for East Bengal and Mohun Bagan two of the giants of Indian soccer.
He played alongside great players like Jarnail Singh, Arun Ghosh, Chuni Goswami, P.K. Banerjee, Balaram, Kannan, Abdul Rehman and Syed Azizuddin. 1962 Best Wing half Award
1983 Award from the Karnataka Football association
2000 Sportsman of the Millennium
Kempaiah was a very versatile person.
He was a boxer before choosing football as a career. He had a lot of long distance runs to his calibre before his passion for football arose.