Ewell Doak Walker II (January 1, 1927 – September 27, 1998) was an American football player who was a halfback and kicker. He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, winning the Maxwell Award in 1947 and the Heisman Trophy in 1948. He then played professionally for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1950 to 1955. Walker was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. The Doak Walker Award, awarded annually since 1990 to the top running back in college football, is named after him.
Early life
Walker was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1927. His father, Ewell Doak Walker Sr., was a Tennessee native and a school teacher who later became assistant superintendent and personnel director of the Dallas school system. His mother Emma was a Texas native, and he had a younger sister, Elsa.
Walker attended Highland Park High School in University Park, where he was a five-sport athlete in football, basketball, baseball, swimming, and track and field.
Football career
SMU (1945; 1947–1949)
Two days after being discharged from the Merchant Marine, Walker appeared in his first college football game for Southern Methodist University. and lettered on the SMU basketball and baseball teams.
In 1999, Sports Illustrated included him on its All-Century Team for college football.
Detroit Lions (1950–1955)
Following his junior year at SMU, Walker was selected by the Boston Yanks with the third pick of in the 1949 NFL draft, held in December 1948. The Detroit Lions acquired Walker's rights from Boston in exchange for John Rauch, whom the Lions had selected with the second pick of the 1949 NFL Draft. The Cleveland Browns held the AAFC to arbitrate their conflicting claims or flip a coin. Instead, the Browns agreed in January 1950 to forego their claim to Walker in exchange for the Lions' second pick in the 1950 NFL draft.
In Detroit, Walker was reunited with former high school teammate Bobby Layne who the Lions acquired by trade in April 1950. The two Texans led the Lions to one of the top scoring offenses during the 1950 NFL season, as Layne led the NFL with 2,323 passing yards and Walker led the league with 128 points on five rushing touchdowns, six receiving touchdowns, 38 extra points, and eight field goals. He was fully recovered in time for the post-season and rushed for 97 yards and caught two passes against the Browns in the 1952 NFL Championship Game.
Healthy for the full 1953 season, Walker helped lead the Lions to their second consecutive NFL championship. He ranked third in the NFL with 93 points scored and totaled 978 all-purpose yards, including 502 receiving yards and 337 rushing yards. At the end of the 1953 season, Walker was selected by the AP as a first-team All-Pro and by the UP as a second-team All-Pro. At age 28, Walker retired not because his abilities had diminished but because of the need to attend to multiple business interests in Texas. His 1955 scoring title was remarkable given the fact that it was achieved while playing for a team that won only three games and compiled the worst record in the NFL.
On December 11, 1955, the day of Walker's final regular season game, the Lions held a "Doak Walker Day" at Briggs Stadium at which he was presented with a silver football engraved with the names of his teammates and coaches. Walker's jersey (No. 37) was also retired as part of the ceremony.
Walker's final NFL appearance was in the 1956 Pro Bowl at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 15, 1956.
At the time of his retirement, Walker ranked third in NFL history with 534 points scored (not including 21 post-season points) in six NFL seasons. Only Don Hutson (825 points in 11 seasons) and Bob Waterfield (573 points in eight seasons) had scored more points. Walker also totaled 1,520 rushing yards on 309 carries (4.9 yards per carry) and 152 receptions for 2,539 yards (16.7 yards per reception).
- In 1959, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
- In 1981, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Tom Landry. He was presented alongside fellow honoree Bobby Layne.
- In 1986, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bobby Layne presented Walker for his induction and said of Walker, "He was the greatest clutch player I ever saw. . . . I'll tell ya, if we were ahead 28–0 or somethin', you might not notice Doak on the field. But if it was a close game, everybody knew he was there and he would be the difference."
- The Doak Walker Award, first awarded in 1990, is presented annually to the best running back in college football.
- In 2007, Walker was ranked No. 4 on ESPN's list of the top 25 players in college football history.
- A statue of Walker was placed between Gerald Ford Stadium and SMU's Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports.
Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly said of Walker shortly before his death:<blockquote>
"He's Doak Walker, and he was as golden as golden gets. He had perfectly even, white teeth and a jaw as square as a deck of cards and a mop of brown hair that made girls bite their necklaces. He was so shifty you couldn't have tackled him in a phone booth, yet so humble that he wrote the Associated Press a thank-you note for naming him an All-American. Come to think of it, he was a three-time All-American, twice one of the Outstanding Players in the Cotton Bowl, a four-time All-Pro. He appeared on 47 covers, including Life, Look and Collier's. One time, Kyle Rote, another gridiron golden boy, saw a guy buying a football magazine at a newsstand. 'Don't buy that one,' Rote said. 'It's not official. It doesn't have a picture of Doak Walker on the cover.'"</blockquote>
Shortly after Walker's death in 1998, Texas running back Ricky Williams wore Walker's number 37 in a game as opposed to his customary number 34 in remembrance of Walker. Williams, who befriended Walker when they met after winning the 1997 Doak Walker Award, would go on to set the NCAA all-time rushing record that season (since been eclipsed by Ron Dayne) and win the Heisman Trophy.
NFL career statistics
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#ffe6bd; width:3em;"|
| Won NFL Championship
|-
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league
|-
| Bold
| Career high
|}
Rushing & receiving stats
{| class= "wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team
! colspan="2"| Games
! colspan="6"| Rushing
! colspan="5"| Receiving
! colspan="2"| Fumbles
|-
! GP !! GS !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! Y/G !! Lng !! TD !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Fum !! FR
|-
! 1950 || DET
| 12 || 12 || 83 || 386 || 4.7 || 32.2 || 30 || 5 || 35 || 534 || 15.3 || 43 || 6 || 3 || 0
|-
! 1951 || DET
| 12 || 12 || 79 || 356 || 4.5 || 29.7 || 34 || 2 || 22 || 421 || 19.1 || 63 || 4 || 1 || 2
|-
! 1952 || style="background:#ffe6bd;"|DET
| 7 || 4 || 26 || 106 || 4.1 || 15.1 || 20 || 0 || 11 || 90 || 8.2 || 18 || 0 || 1 || 0
|-
! 1953 || style="background:#ffe6bd;"|DET
| 12 || 12 || 66 || 337 || 5.1 || 28.1 || 50 || 2 || 30 || 502 || 16.7 || 83 || 3 || 2 || 0
|-
! 1954 || DET
| 12 || 12 || 32 || 240 || 7.5 || 20.0 || 38 || 1 || 32 || 564 || 17.6 || 66 || 3 || 1 || 0
|-
! 1955 || DET
| 12 || 9 || 23 || 95 || 4.1 || 7.9 || 51 || 2 || 22 || 428 || 19.5 || 70 || 5 || 1 || 1
|-
! colspan="2"|Career || 67 || 61 || 309 || 1,520 || 4.9 || 22.7 || 51 || 12 || 152 || 2,539 || 16.7 || 83 || 21 || 9 || 3
|}
Kicking stats
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Season||Team|||||||| ||||||||||
|-
| 1950 || DET
| 12 || 8 || 18 || 44.4 || – || 38 || 41 || 92.7 || 62
|-
| 1951 || DET
| 12 || 6 || 12 || 50.0 || – || style="background:#cfecec;"|43 || style="background:#cfecec;"|44 || 97.7 || 61
|-
| 1952 || style="background:#ffe6bd;"|DET
| 7 || 3 || 5 || 60.0 || – || 5 || 5 ||100.0 || 14
|-
| 1953 || style="background:#ffe6bd;"|DET
| 12 || 12 || 19 || 63.2 || – || 27 || 29 || 93.1 || 63
|-
| 1954 || DET
| 12 || 11 || 17 || 64.7 || – || style="background:#cfecec;"|43 || style="background:#cfecec;"|43 || 100.0 || 76
|-
| 1955 || DET
| 12 || 9 || 16 || 56.3 || – || 27 || 29 || 93.1 || 54
|-
!colspan="2"|Career || 67 || 49 || 87 || 56.3 || <u>47</u> || 183 || 191 || 95.8 || 330
|}
Family and later years
In March 1950, Walker married his college sweetheart, Norma Jane Peterson, at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas. His groomsmen included Bobby Layne and Kyle Rote. They had four children: Laurie ('52), Kris ('56), Russ ('60), and Scott ('63), but divorced in 1965.
Walker left pro football in 1955 to concentrate on his private business interests in sporting goods and as a sales executive with an electrical contracting company. Walker took a position as a coach with the Akron Vulcans of the Continental Football League. When the Vulcans owner was exposed as a con-artist and stopped paying his bills, Walker and his assistant coaches (Tobin Rote and Lou Rymkus being among them) kept the team alive as long as they could with funds out of their own pockets; Walker eventually quit before the team folded. He later founded Walker Chemicals in Denver, a company he sold upon retirement.
See also
- List of NCAA major college yearly punt and kickoff return leaders
References
External links
- Texas State Historical Society profile