1. Walter James Lewis AM was born on 1 December 1959 and is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s.
67 Facts About Wally Lewis
1. 2.
Wally Lewis became a commentator for television coverage of the sport.
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Wally Lewis represented Australia in thirty-three international matches from 1981 to 1991 and was national team captain from 1984 to 1989.
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Wally Lewis is perhaps best known for his State of Origin performances, spearheading Queensland's dominance in that competition throughout the 1980s and winning a record 8 man of the match awards.
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Wally Lewis has since been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and in 1999 he became the sixth member of 'The Immortals'.
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In February 2008, Wally Lewis was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.
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Wally Lewis went on to be named in the halves in the Kangaroos' Team of the Century.
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In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, Wally Lewis was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend".
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In 2011, Wally Lewis was a recipient of the Queensland Greats Awards.
10.
Wally Lewis was born in Hawthorne, Queensland on 1 December 1959.
11.
When he was six years old, Wally Lewis was playing rugby league with Cannon Hill Stars, usually at lock forward.
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Wally Lewis played in junior Queensland school teams, at times representing his state against New South Wales before a State or Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
13.
In 1977 while still in high school, Wally Lewis played representative rugby union as a Centre, touring Europe and Japan with the Australian schoolboys team alongside the likes of Tony Melrose, Michael O'Connor, and all three Ella brothers Mark, Glen and Gary, all of whom went on to represent the Australia national rugby union team, while O'Connor would become a dual international when he played alongside Wally Lewis for the Kangaroos.
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The 1977 Australian Schoolboys Rugby Union tour of Great Britain would see the first of three times Wally Lewis would make undefeated tours of Britain with Australian national teams.
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Also in 1978, Wally Lewis turned down an offer to play in the famed Sydney premiership with the North Sydney Bears.
16.
In 1979 Wally Lewis made his senior debut for Queensland from the bench in games played under the old State of Residence rules, and played for a Brisbane representative side against the touring Great Britain Lions.
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Wally Lewis made the run-on side for Queensland in the inaugural State of Origin match in 1980 at lock forward alongside his hero Arthur Beetson who at the age of 35 was playing in his first ever game for his home state.
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Wally Lewis however had a hand in Queensland's first ever State of Origin try scored by Kerry Boustead.
19.
In what proved to be a master stroke, Beetson coached the team from the sidelines and handed the captaincy over to 21-year-old Wally Lewis who had moved from lock to play Five-eighth.
20.
Wally Lewis later saw a television replay which showed it was in fact the match referee who he could hear behind him.
21.
Wally Lewis was left out of the first Ashes test against Great Britain at Boothferry Park in Hull and coach Frank Stanton had been less than impressed with his attitude to training and his off-field habits which had seen him actually gain weight.
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Stanton then challenged him to get back into shape and force his way back into the test team and Wally Lewis did just that.
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Wally Lewis began training harder to lose the weight, including jogging back from training to the team base, the Dragonara Hotel in Leeds.
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Wally Lewis's form improved and he became a vital player from the bench in the final two tests at Central Park and Headingley.
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Wally Lewis kicked four goals with the game played in driving rain.
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Wally Lewis was selected at five-eighth for the first test against France on the French leg of the tour, but missed the second test after again dislocating his shoulder in a minor game between the tests which ended his tour as a player.
27.
In 1983, Wally Lewis regained his test five-eighth spot from Brett Kenny for the two tests against New Zealand at Carlaw Park in Auckland, and at Lang Park.
28.
Trinity won 5 of 10 games during Wally Lewis's stay, including a win over St Helens in which Wally Lewis scored a hat-trick.
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Good to his word and despite being jaded and in need of a break, Wally Lewis signed to play his only season of English club football and became the highest paid player in England at the time.
30.
Back in Australia, Wally Lewis left Valleys and ultimately signed with the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls after initially considering an offer from Past Brothers.
31.
Wally Lewis gained the national captaincy for the first time in the 1984 Ashes series against Great Britain, winning a well publicised battle with Parramatta and NSW captain Ray Price and becoming the 12th Queenslander to captain Australia.
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Wally Lewis was the first Queenslander to captain an Australian team to an Ashes victory.
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Wally Lewis was named player of the series for his performance as captain of the Brisbane Rugby League team that won the 1984 National Panasonic Cup Final against Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Roosters club.
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Wally Lewis was named man-of-the match in the first two games of the 1984 State of Origin series, making it three consecutive Origin man-of-the-match awards.
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Wally Lewis was man-of-the-match for Game II of the 1985 State of Origin series, becoming the second player, after Mal Meninga in Game 1 1982, from the losing team to win the award.
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Wally Lewis then played in Wynnum-Manly's 1985 BRL grand final loss to a Souths Magpies team which included Gary Belcher, Mal Meninga and Peter Jackson.
37.
Don Furner, who took over as Australian coach in 1986 before the mid-season test series against New Zealand, later told that while initially weary of working with Wally Lewis based on Fearnley's public comments and Wally Lewis' battles with Frank Stanton on the 1982 Kangaroo Tour, he encountered no problems with the Australian captain and the two formed a good personal and working relationship.
38.
In 1987 Wally Lewis was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football".
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Also that year King Wally, a biography of Lewis written by Adrian McGregor was published.
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Wally Lewis was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987.
41.
Wally Lewis was the Broncos' top try-scorer in their first season and later had the honour of scoring the club's first hat-trick.
42.
On 20 July 1988 Wally Lewis played for Australia in their record 62-point win over Papua New Guinea, scoring a try.
43.
Wally Lewis won another man-of-the-match award in the second game of the 1989 State of Origin series.
44.
Wally Lewis scored a famous try in the second half of the game played at the SFS, when he went on a 40-metre cross field run to the line where he outpaced a much younger Laurie Daley, and held off NSW fullback Garry Jack's tackle over the last 10 metres to score in the corner.
45.
Wally Lewis won his eighth and last man-of-the-match award in the first game of the State of Origin series that year, before playing both his last match for Queensland and Australia by the end of the season.
46.
Wally Lewis captained and coached Gold Coast during the 1992 NSWRL season but again finished the season in last place.
47.
Wally Lewis played his last game for the Seagulls in a match against a South Australian 'Select' team at the Thebarton Oval in Adelaide on 7 November 1992, the night before the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.
48.
Wally Lewis coached the Queensland State of Origin side in 1993 and 1994 but never won a series.
49.
Wally Lewis is remembered for his creative, playmaking football and great on-field confrontations, most notably one in the 1991 State of Origin series with Mark Geyer.
50.
The Wally Lewis Medal has been awarded to the Queensland player of the series in State of Origin from 1992 to 2003.
51.
Wally Lewis is arguably the greatest rugby league footballer of all time.
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Wally Lewis is one of only a handful of players to be named a Rugby League Immortal and was one of the six inaugural members of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.
53.
Wally Lewis achieved the greatest honour in Rugby League: the captaincy of his country, but it was his feats as Queensland skipper and playmaker in State of Origin that he achieved legendary status.
54.
Wally Lewis played 31 Origin games and a record 8 Man of the Match awards over a 12-year period.
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The name Wally Lewis is synonymous with State of Origin and Queensland Rugby League and continues to be an inspiration to future generations of footballers.
56.
Wally Lewis has appeared in numerous advertisements during and after his football playing career.
57.
In December 2009 Wally Lewis was inducted into the Queensland Sports Hall of Fame.
58.
In November 1984, Wally Lewis married Jacqueline in St John's Cathedral ; however, they separated in 2021.
59.
Wally Lewis's son, Lincoln, was a full-time actor on the Seven Network television drama, Home and Away, winning a TV Week Logie Award for best male new talent.
60.
In May 2010, Wally Lewis was rushed to hospital and had his gallbladder removed.
61.
Wally Lewis completed his autobiography, Out of the Shadows: A Champion's Return to the Spotlight, in 2009.
62.
Wally Lewis is well known as a big fan of The Phantom comic series.
63.
Wally Lewis has revealed in his book that his on-air disorientation was caused by the condition.
64.
On 21 February 2007, Wally Lewis underwent brain surgery to help his epilepsy at Austin Hospital in Melbourne.
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In September 2007, Wally Lewis appeared on-air for the first time since the surgery, and by 2009 had returned to presenting on weeknights.
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Wally Lewis said he wanted to work with epilepsy organisations and raise awareness about the condition.
67.
Wally Lewis is the vice patron of the Hear and Say Centre, becoming involved with the charity organization after his daughter, Jamie-Lee, was born profoundly deaf.