Ian Michael Chappell was born in Adelaide, Australia, the son of a cricket player. He was raised in Glenelg, and he was taking cricket lessons by the time he was five years old. He played his first competitive match at age seven. He played throughout high school, and became a professional, playing for the Southern Redbacks, at age eighteen. He was the captain of the Australian team at the World Cup from 1971 to 1975. In 1976, he published his autobiography. In 1980, he retired from playing to become a sports journalist and cricket commentator, predominately with Channel Nine. In 2009, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.