Lewis Leonard Capes is a former British shot put

Shot put

The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....

 athlete and professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player. Capes stood and weighed 22 stone at his peak condition.

Early life

Lewis Capes is the son of the former British shot putter and two-time World's Strongest Man

World's Strongest Man

The World's Strongest Man is a well recognised event in strength athletics and has been described by a number of highly respected authorities in the sport as the premier event in strongman. Organized by TWI, an IMG Media company, it is broadcast around the end of December each year...

 winner Geoff Capes

Geoff Capes

Geoffrey Lewis Capes is a former athlete, strongman and professional Highland Games competitor...

. He was born in Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

 and brought up in Spalding, Lincolnshire

Spalding, Lincolnshire

Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....

, attending Millfield School. He became a member of Millfield's athletic, rugby and water polo squads where he was coached by Rod Speed. After leaving school, he flew to the United States and attended Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College is a two-year, public, junior college located in Santa Monica, California.Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study...

 (1989–1991), representing the athletic squad and playing defensive end

Defensive end

Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...

 for the football team.

Competitive participation

Capes represented Millfield at the shot put and won the Public School Boy Championships. He represented Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 Schools in athletics, rugby and water-polo. He then went on to represent the South-West for rugby and eventually gained a position on the England Trent Rugby Schoolboy squad.

At Santa Monica College he received 2nd team All Conference. He also represented the College in the shot put and received the Kiawanis Athlete of the Year Award. Capes then transferred to Colorado State University

Colorado State University

Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...

 on a full athletic scholarship for American football (1989–1994) where he was coached by Earle Bruce

Earle Bruce

Earle Bruce is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Tampa , Iowa State University , Ohio State University , the University of Northern Iowa , and Colorado State University , compiling a career college football record of 154–90–2...

 and Sonny Lubick

Sonny Lubick

Louis "Sonny" Lubick is a former head football coach at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. In his fourth decade as collegiate football coach, the 2007 season marked Lubick's 15th and final year at the helm of a Colorado State program that he built from virtually the ground up...

. From 1995 through 1998 Capes played for the London Monarchs

London Monarchs

The London Monarchs were a professional American football team in NFL Europe and its predecessor league, the World League of American Football . The Monarchs played their final season in 1998 as the England Monarchs...

 of the World League of American Football

World League of American Football

The World League of American Football was founded in 1990 with support from the National Football League to play professional American football in North America, Europe and later possibly Asia...

.