Walter James "Wally" Lewis AM

Order of Australia

The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

 (born 1 December 1959 in Hawthorne, Queensland

Hawthorne, Queensland

Hawthorne is an inner riverside suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is east of the Brisbane central business district.Hawthorne started as a farming district in the 1860s, and was gradually subdivided as Brisbane grew...

) is an Australian former professional rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 footballer and coach. Currently a commentator of the sport, he is widely regarded as the greatest rugby league player of all time. His time as a player and coach was followed by a career as a newsreader for the Nine Network

Nine Network

The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

.

Nicknamed The King and also The Emperor of Lang Park, Lewis represented Queensland in thirty-one State of Origin games from 1980 to 1991, and was captain for thirty of them.