He was popular among Latvian football fans for his "lazy" and relaxed playing manner which he was able to alter with unexpected outbursts of energy in form of shots on goal or passes to the center.
He played for Daugava for almost his entire career - from 1955 until 1969, scoring many important goals and having been elected the team captain.
[1] After he was suspended from Daugava in 1969 after Soviet customs officers found an excess of cash he was carrying on his way to a friendly in the East Germany, he spent years as player-manager for Rīgas radiorūpnīca ("Radiotehniķis") until 1982.
Until the late 1980s, Ulmanis was a milling-machine operator, before starting a career in coaching, as he was a coach in FK Pārdaugava 1991–1995) and the Riga Football School academy since 1996.
This biographical article relating to Latvian football is a stub.