Career
Dewalt joined the Lions in 1980 after being originally drafted out of Texas-Arlington as a running back by the Cleveland Browns in the ninth round of the NFL Draft that season, and served as the back-up quarterback to Joe "the Throwin" Samoan" Paopao for two seasons. In 1982 he succeeded Paopao, which coincided with the arrival of Mervyn Fernandez who became Dewalt"s favourite target. However they lost to the Toronto Argonauts, 18 to 17.
In 1984 Despite a first place record of 12-3-1 the Lions lost the West championship to the Blue Bombers.
Although in 1985 Dewalt completed 301 out of 476 pass attempts for 4,237 yards and 27 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, his best season, he was not chosen as the division"s all-star quarterback. That honour went to Matt Dunigan of the Edmonton Eskimos.
Foreign the next two seasons Dewalt was not as effective of a quarterback, in part due to an injury to Fernandez in 1985 and the receiver"s departure for the Los Angeles Raiders in 1986. In 1988 he was allowed to sign with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after the Lions replaced him with Matt Dunigan.
An arm injury led Dewalt to a number of poor performances and he was sent packing to the Ottawa Rough Riders where, overall, his play did not improve.
He retired from pro football after the season.