Colin Maxwell "Max" Whitehead (2 August 1922 – 26 March 2010) was an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1940s.

Early years

Whitehead grew up in Park Street,

Narrabeen, New South Wales Narrabeen is a beachside suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Narrabeen is 23 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and is ...

Rugby league career

He started playing rugby league in 1935 for the Narrabeen Sharks juniors. He also played for North Sydney for three seasons, in 1942, 1943 and 1946. While with for the North Sydney club he played in their grand final loss to Newtown in the

1943 NSWRFL season The 1943 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-sixth season of Sydney's top-level rugby league competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season which lasted from April unti ...

, playing under captain-coach

Frank Hyde Frank Hyde MBE OAM (7 February 1916 – 24 September 2007) was an Australian rugby league footballer, coach and radio caller. A New South Wales representative three-quarter, Hyde played his club football in Sydney for NSWRFL Premiership clubs ...

. Whitehead was the first captain of the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

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 the NSWRFL in 1947, which also included

Johnny Bliss John Charles "Johnny" Bliss (30 August 1922 – 9 September 1974) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played for Balmain, North Sydney and Manly-Warringah in the NSWRL between 1942 and 1951. Rugby league career Born in Queensland ...

. He played 20 first grade games for

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

and scored 4 tries during his 2 years in first grade.

Male model, international wrestler and life guard

He enlisted in the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

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 name ''Max Steyne'', he won the 1954

European Heavyweight Championship The European Heavyweight Championship is a name used for various top titles competed for throughout the European professional wrestling circuit. The title was recognised as official by UK national TV network ITV for the purposes of their coverage ...

in Munich, Germany. In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s Whitehead was widely known for being the first

Chesty Bond Chesty Bond is a fictional cartoon character and trademark for the Australian clothing company Bonds. The character was created in 1940, a co-creation of the advertising account manager Ted Moloney and artist Syd Miller. Chesty Bond was con ...

character in Bonds singlet advertisements nationally. He was also a professional lifeguard at

Manly Life Saving Club The Manly Life Saving Club is one of Australia's oldest Surf Life Saving Clubs, founded in 1911; located in the Sydney suburb of , in the Northern Beaches Council in New South Wales. History The club was founded in 1911 to patrol Manly Beach af ...

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 at

Collaroy, New South Wales Collaroy is a suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Collaroy is 22 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council. It is part of the ...

. He died on 26 March 2010 from complications of hip surgery at age 87. Whitehead's ashes were scattered on

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by th ...

before a match between Manly and the

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

on 11 April 2010.Sydney Morning Herald 03/05/2010 by Malcolm Brown

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, Max 1922 births Rugby league players from Sydney North Sydney Bears players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captains Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Australian male professional wrestlers Australian surf lifesavers Australian male models Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II 2010 deaths Rugby league props Royal Australian Air Force airmen