Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Colin Maxwell Whitehead | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1922-08-02)2 August 1922 Riverstone,New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 March 2010(2010-03-26) (aged 87) Collaroy,New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Prop | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Colin Maxwell Whitehead (2 August 1922 – 26 March 2010) was an Australian professionalrugby league footballer who played in the 1940s.
Whitehead grew up in Park Street,Narrabeen, New South Wales.[2]
He started playing rugby league in 1935 for the Narrabeen Sharks juniors. He also played forNorth Sydney for three seasons, in 1942, 1943 and 1946.[3] While with for theNorth Sydney club he played in their grand final loss to Newtown in the1943 NSWRFL season, playing under captain-coachFrank Hyde.
Whitehead was the first captain of theManly-Warringah Sea Eagles in their debut season of 1947 and also played the 1948 season. He was one of a number of players that Manly acquired from North Sydney to join theNSWRFL in 1947, which also includedJohnny Bliss.[4] He played 20 first grade games forManly-Warringah and scored 4 tries during his 2 years in first grade.
He enlisted in theRAAF in 1943, but was never sent overseas and was discharged at the end of that year. Aside from his rugby league career, he had been at various times a male model, a pilot, a chicken sexer, and a professional wrestler.
As a wrestler, using the nameMax Steyne, he won the 1954European Heavyweight Championship in Munich, Germany.[5]
In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s Whitehead was widely known for being the firstChesty Bond character inBonds singlet advertisements nationally.
He was also a professional lifeguard atManly Life Saving Club for many years, and won many surfing events for South Narrabeen, Manly & North Steyne Surf Clubs, specializing in belt races.
Whitehead lived his final years at the War Veterans Home atCollaroy, New South Wales. He died on 26 March 2010 from complications of hip surgery at age 87. Whitehead's ashes were scattered onBrookvale Oval before a match between Manly and theCronulla-Sutherland Sharks on 11 April 2010.[6]
