Lewis Ward (born 2 September 1992) is an English-Canadian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

for the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He played

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athleti ...

at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

for the Gee-Gees.

Early life

Ward was born in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and moved with his family to

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

when he was in the middle of grade 8. He was raised in a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

loving household & grew up playing soccer himself.

University career

Ward played for the

Ottawa Gee-Gees The Ottawa Gee-Gees () are the athletic teams that represent the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario. The Gee-Gees won the national football championship, the Vanier Cup, in 1975 and 2000, while also appearing in the game in the 1970, 1980 ...

from 2013 to 2017 as he became one of the best kickers in Gee-Gees and

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

history. He finished his university career having converted 89 successful field goals, which is the most in program and

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

history. It is also second all-time in

history to Johnny Mark's 91 career field goals. He is also the leading scorer in Gee-Gees football history with 412 points and third all-time in U Sports.

Professional career

Ward went undrafted in the 2017 CFL Draft and instead returned to school for his fifth year of eligibility. Following a successful 2017 season, he signed with the

on 3 January 2018. Following the departure of 2017 kicker, Brett Maher, the Redblacks had an open competition for their kicking position between Ward, Richie Leone,

Sergio Castillo Sergio Castillo (born November 1, 1990) is an American professional gridiron football, football placekicker and Punter (football), punter for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at West Te ...

, and Mathieu Hebert. He went 4-for-4 on field goal attempts in the pre-season and won the starting placekicking job with Leone handling punts and kickoffs. On 28 July 2018, Ward tied an Ottawa Football Club record by making seven field goals in a single game, tying him with

Terry Baker Terry Wayne Baker (born May 5, 1941) is an American former professional Gridiron football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football and college bas ...

in 1984 and

Dean Dorsey Dean Dorsey (born March 13, 1957) is a former Canadian football placekicker in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the National Football League (NFL). He played university football at the University of Toronto. Dorsey took over kicking duti ...

in 1989. On 11 August 2018, he set the all-time CFL rookie record for consecutive field goals made with 22, surpassing Luca Congi's benchmark of 21. He continued that streak to 22 September 2018 in a game against the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

, where he broke Rene Paredes' single-season consecutive field goal record of 32 made in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

with his 33rd straight in the second quarter of that game. In that same game, he again made all seven of his field goal attempts, tying his own club record and extending his streak to 37 consecutive field goals made. In the following game against the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

, he broke the all-time consecutive field goal record of 39 made, also by Paredes, over the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

seasons, by connecting on all three of his field goal attempts to bring his streak to 40. On 19 October 2018, against the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

, Ward broke the professional football record of 44 consecutive field goals made by breaking

Adam Vinatieri Adam Matthew Vinatieri (born December 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 24 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Vinatieri is the ...

's record from the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

with his 45th straight field goal. He finished the 2018 regular season having made 51 field goals out of 52 attempts, shattering Paredes' single-season field goal accuracy record of 94.74% with a completion percentage of 98.08%. His single season consecutive field goal streak finished at 48 made by the end of the regular season. He was named as the Redblacks' nominee for the league's Most Outstanding Rookie and Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. At the 2018 Shaw CFL Awards ceremony, he won both awards, becoming the first ever kicker to win the Most Outstanding Rookie Award. Ward's consecutive field goal streak continued into the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, including in a game on 5 July 2019 where he made a career-long field goal of 53 yards. On 17 August 2019, Ward was wide right on a 34-yard field goal attempt, ending his consecutive field goal streak at 69 made. Later in the season, on 19 October 2019, Ward set a new franchise record by successfully connecting on a 56-yard field goal, the longest in Ottawa professional football history. He did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the

2020 CFL season The 2020 CFL season would have been the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it would have been the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League. It was originally scheduled to begin on June 11; on April 7, the start of the ...

and signed a one-year extension with the Redblacks on 14 January 2021. On November 4, 2021, near the end of the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, the Redblacks announced that they had signed Ward to a contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2022 season.

References

External links

Ottawa Redblacks bioOttawa Gee-Gees bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Lewis 1992 births Living people Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners Canadian football placekickers English emigrants to Canada English players of Canadian football Ottawa Gee-Gees football players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of Canadian football from Ontario Sportspeople from Kingston, Ontario