Challis was a Tasmanian and started his career at Launceston, where he was a premiership player in 1909 and regular NTFA representative at the State Championships.

During this time he played mainly as a half forward or rover but when he was lured to Carlton in 1912 he soon established himself as a wingman.

He almost missed out on the chance to win a premiership as he had attempted to join the army at the beginning of the season, only to be refused because his toes overlapped.

[5] A teacher by profession, and a committed Esperantist,[6] he was eventually signed up and served with the 58th Infantry Battalion on the Western Front.

Challis, by then a Sergeant, was killed in action, on 15 July 1916,[7] when a heavy-calibre German artillery shell dropped into his trench in Armentières, France.