Two amputees turn heads — and hearts — with two unforgettable playoff toasts from their toes.
DALLAS, Texas — In the high-stakes world of NHL playoffs, heroes are usually found on the ice. But in Dallas, two showed up in the stands weeks apart — armed with prosthetic legs, full hearts and beer.
Austin Lewis, an avid Stars fan and double amputee, was born with fibular hemimelia. He puts it simply: “You don’t have fibulas in both of your legs or one.” The 29-year-old lost one of his legs at the age of two and the other at 12. After multiple surgeries, he finally started walking normally in his 20s.
The journey, he admits, can be viewed as a downer sometimes.
“For a lot of people, it can be a super downer,” Lewis said. “I try to take it and flip it into a positive thing in my life.”
So when the Jumbotron rolled his way during Game 4 of the Stars-Jets series in Dallas, Lewis did what any fun-loving fan with one removable leg and a full beer might do: “I instantly grabbed my leg and poured my beer.”
Yes — into the leg. Then down the hatch.
“I called it a leg looge,” Lewis said. “But some people say a leg lager or an ‘amputini.’”
The crowd? Unhinged.
“The whole stadium went wild,” he said, laughing. “And it was the longest 10 seconds of my life. I went to the bathroom and got like 50 high-fives from everyone who saw it on the screen. So it was a great time.”
But it turns out Lewis wasn’t the first of the playoff prosthetic pint pour in Dallas. Inspiration actually struck him weeks earlier, on social media.
“I saw a guy on Facebook do it three weeks ago, and I was inspired by him,” Lewis said.
That guy was Cody Barrett.
Barrett, from Lubbock, lost his leg recently to a blood clot he developed from a COVID-19 infection. But he’s gained a few thousand new fans after Game 1 of the Stars-Avalanche series, when he passed his prosthetic down a row for an impromptu rally chug.
“There were a bunch of young guys who were trying to get on the jumbotron, so I just tossed it to them, dude caught it, and away they went,” Barrett said.
There was no planning. No warning. Just a man, his leg and playoff spirit. The Stars, unfortunately, lost that game but ended up winning the series in a Game 7 thriller.
“So maybe we have started a new trend at the Stars game,” Barrett said. “The old rally leg.”
Lewis is all for it. Especially after what happened at his game: The Stars won.
“I drank the beer,” he said, “and then we won the game. There could be a strong correlation there. I’m hoping to make it back for a few more games and help them win.”
Behind the silliness is a message that sticks — even more than beer foam.
“Being an amputee, we’re all still people, you know,” Barrett said. “This normalizes our situation. It makes us feel part of the crowd. It might take us a little bit more to get to our seat, but we’re still people, and I love that everyone around us joined in and was cheering and just loved the whole vibe of it.”
“I just try to show people I can go do everything that other people want to do,” Lewis added. “And maybe even more.”
In the arena of life, some play with a full deck. Others reshuffle the cards they were dealt. Because joy, as it turns out, doesn’t need two feet to stand on.
Just one leg. And maybe a beer.