Reginald Lewis (7 March 1920 – 2 April 1997) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Playing as a striker, Lewis solely featured for Arsenal throughout his footballing career. Lewis is Arsenal's 12th highest goalscorer of all time.

Playing career

Born in

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

and raised in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

Lewis spent his entire career at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, however as a youth team player he played for Margate FC which in those days was a nursery club for The Arsenal. He joined the club as a schoolboy in 1935, and scored on his debut against Everton on 1 January 1938. He made only four appearances in 1937-38, however, and as a result missed out on a League Championship winners' medal. Lewis broke into the first-team more in 1938-39, making 16 appearances in league and cup, scoring 7 goals, but the advent of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

interrupted his career. During the war Lewis continued to play for Arsenal and shone as a natural goalscorer; although wartime appearances and goals are not officially counted, Lewis scored 143 goals in 130 games, including four in the

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

War Cup Southern Final, in a 7-1 defeat of

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

. Towards the end of the war he served in the

British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located a ...

Occupied Germany Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...

, but returned to play for Arsenal once first-class football resumed in 1946. On 24 August 1946 an additional fixture was arranged between England and Scotland with all proceeds going to the Bolton Disaster Fund. Lewis was called up to replace the injured

Tommy Lawton Thomas Lawton (6 October 1919 – 6 November 1996) was an English football player and manager. A strong centre-forward with excellent all-round attacking skills, he was able to head the ball with tremendous power and accuracy. Born in Fa ...

. Although most of the Arsenal side of the 1930s were past their best by this time, Lewis was still only 26 and he continued to be a regular in the first team throughout the remainder of the 1940s. He was the club's top scorer in 1946-47 with 29 goals, and the following 1947-48 season, he partnered new signing

Ronnie Rooke Ronald Leslie Rooke (7 December 1911 – 9 June 1985) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. During his three decades' playing career he scored at least 931 goals in 1029 official matches, among which more than 765 league goa ...

and between them they scored 47 goals as Arsenal won the First Division title. Lewis continued to be a regular for the rest of the decade and he enjoyed arguably his best season in 1949-50. As such in this season, he scored 19 goals in 31 league games and played twice for the England B team. Lewis capped it altogether by scoring both goals in Arsenal's 2–0 victory over

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the

1950 FA Cup Final The 1950 FA Cup Final was the 69th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 29 April 1950 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal won the match 2–0 to win the FA Cup for the third time, with both goals scored b ...

. However, during the early 1950s, Lewis became constantly afflicted with injuries, and he made only 12 appearances in 1951-52 and none at all in 1952-53. In the close season of 1953, he retired from the game at the age of 33. His 116 goals in 176 matches makes him Arsenal's twelfth top goalscorer of all time. After retiring, Lewis first ran a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, then worked in

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

. He died in

Chadwell Heath Chadwell Heath is an area in east London, England. It is situated on the boundary of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Redbridge, around west of Romford and east of Ilford, and north-east of Charing Cross. ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in April 1997 at the age of 77.

Honours

; Arsenal * First Division: 1947-48 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 1950

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Reg 1920 births 1997 deaths Arsenal F.C. players Men's association football forwards England men's B international footballers English men's footballers Sportspeople from Bilston British Army personnel of World War II