Sam Backo

Samson Backo, known as Sam Backo, was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop in the 1980s and 1990s. Born on 1 January 1961, he died on 3 August 2025. He played club football in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership for the Canberra Raiders and the Brisbane Broncos, and he represented both Australia and Queensland. He was the first Australian forward to score tries in all three Tests of an Ashes series, was named among the greatest Aboriginal players of the twentieth century and was selected in an Indigenous Australian team of the century.