Rugby league great Sam Backo’s dying wish was to pass away on the country where he was born in far north Queensland, NRL Immortal Wally Lewis has revealed.
The former Raiders, Broncos, Queensland and Kangaroos star lost his battle with a bacterial infection last Sunday, aged 64.
He died surrounded by family in hospital in his home town of Cairns, with Lewis and his fellow Broncos and Maroons great Gene Miles visiting their former teammate shortly before he passed.
‘He’d been battling for a number of months and he was still in a great mood,’ Lewis told Channel Nine.
‘Geno [Miles] and I got the opportunity to go along and visit Sam, say g’day to him, and he seemed like he was in great spirits.
‘He was battling all the way through, and sadly lost his fight for life.
Rugby league great Sam Backo (pictured) told his wife his dying wish was to pass away on the country where he grew up
Backo’s fellow footy legend, Wally Lewis (pictured with wife Lynda) paid him a visit shortly before he died from a bacterial infection
Nicknamed ‘Slammin’ Sam’, the former prop forward had a glittering career for the Raiders, Broncos, Queensland and Australia (pictured)
‘He really needed to be in his homeland, though, when he wanted to go.
‘He said to his wife, “Get me out of here. If I’m gonna pass away, I’m gonna want to die in an area where I’m gonna feel very comfortable”, and it was a very moving moment.’
Lewis has fond memories of playing with Backo, whose stellar play in the forward pack earned him the nickname ‘Slammin’ Sam’.
‘He was always fun to be around, the guys used to say, except for dinner time,’ Lewis joked.
‘He was just a great guy, very funny man as well.’
Backo enjoyed a glittering career at the top of the game during the ’80s, and was hailed for his work away from the footy pitch as an advocate for Indigenous Australians.
He was named one of the greatest Aboriginal players of the 20th century and notably became the first Australian forward to score tries in all three Tests of an Ashes series, in 1988.
During his international career, the former prop forward also won six caps for the Kangaroos and represented Queensland on seven occasions, helping lift the Maroons to victories during the 1988 and 1989 series.
Backo is pictured second from right celebrating a Queensland State of Origin win with his teammates in 1990
The footy legend was also remembered for his work with Indigenous Australians
The former Queensland star had been diagnosed with melioidosis in April and had spent some time in an intensive care unit in Cairns Hospital.
Backo, who also had a heart condition, had been transferred to a hospital in Brisbane to have a pacemaker inserted in July.
Reports from some outlets claimed that the former prop believed he had caught the illness following a swim in a Freshwater Creek at Goomboora Park in Cairns.
Melioidosis is an infectious disease that is caused by bacteria lurking in soil or dirty water. The illness is treated with antibiotics and symptoms can include fevers, headaches or trouble breathing. The illness has killed 35 people in Queensland so far this year.
Backo’s sisters Dolores, Charmaene, Kathrine and Jewel said in a statement: ‘He was also a strong fighter for his people, the Warrgamay people and the South Sea Islander community, descended from Ni-Vanuatu and Solomon Islander people kidnapped as slave labour for the Queensland and NSW sugar industry.
‘He was a man with a huge generosity of spirit and was always thinking of others.
‘Even as he lay in the Cairns Hospital’s intensive care unit, he made sure he sent a message of condolence to the family of a friend who had just passed.
‘Just one example of the measure of the man.’
