David Walker (football)

Infobox NFL player


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Name=David Walker
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DateOfBirth=birth date and age|1955|12|24
Birthplace=Lake Charles, La.
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Height_ft=5
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Weight_lbs=185
Position=QB
number=8
College=Texas A&M
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Awards=1973 U.P.I. SWC Freshman of the Year
Honors=1972 Louisiana Class 4A All-State Quarterback; Class 4A Outsatanding Offensive Player
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years=1973-74,1976-77
teams=Texas A&M

David Walker is a former American football quarterback for Texas A&M University. Walker was a left-handed quarterback in the mid-70's who was Louisiana's 1972 All-State Quarterback and was voted the state's Outstanding Offensive Player prior to his arrival from his hometown of Sulphur. Walker led Texas A&M to a 37-14 Sun Bowl victory over Florida to cap off the 1976 season and had the Aggies ranked #5 in the country after an impressive 33-17 win over #7 Texas Tech in 1977.

Making the transition from drop-back passer to the Wishbone, Walker in 1973 was a 17 year-old freshman phenom who became the youngest starting quarterback in NCAA history following a 35-16 win against TCU. The victory broke a four game losing streak against the Frogs and was the first of 24 straight the Aggies have won in the series. The Aggies finished the season as the 3rd highest scoring team in A&M history and Walker was named the U.P.I. Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year.

Walker was the quarterback his sophomore season in 1974 and led A&M through an 8-3 campaign, A&M's first winning season since the victorious Cotton Bowl team of 1967. Their 21-14 win against the 5th ranked LSU Tigers, the Aggies' second in 15 tries at LSU's deafening Tiger Stadium, catapulted the unranked squad to #9 in the country. In the game the Aggies had three ball carriers break the century mark in rushing; Skip Walker with 130, Bubba Bean with 127, and fullback Bucky Sams who finished with 107 yards and scored the winning touchdown late in the 4th quarter. Only a final game loss at Texas kept them from the Cotton Bowl and an SWC championship, thus allowing Grant Teaff's Baylor team, a 20-0 victim of the Aggies earlier in the season, to claim the crown. The Aggies' Top 15 ranking marked the first time since 1957 the Aggies had been ranked at season's end and only the sixth since their 1939 National Championship.

Walker sat out the 1975 season following a shoulder injury to his passing arm sustained in the '74 SMU game and recurring pre-season hamstring injuries. The Aggies rose to #2 behind the tandem of quarterbacks Mike Jay and David Shipman and the country's top-ranked defense before suffering season ending consecutive losses to Arkansas and Liberty Bowl opponent USC.

After reconsidering transferring back to Louisiana in 1976 and once again healthy, he regained the starting QB job for the final six SWC games, all lop-sided victories, including the first win in 20 years on the University of Texas campus in a decisive 27-3 victory in Darryl Royal's final A&M game as UT's head coach. Walker capped off the season by leading the Aggies to a 37-14 victory over Florida in the Sun Bowl, applying the finishing touches to A&M's second consecutive 10 win season, a first in A&M history and a feat accomplished since only 3 times. In the game, Walker was 11 of 18 for 122 yards, in­cluding the winning touchown pass to fullback George Woodard. Walker also scored in the 2nd quarter on a 9-yard keeper. The Sporting News ranked Texas A&M #3 and the A.P. had them 7th in the country following the season. It would be 1985 before the Aggies would be ranked again in a final poll.

Texas Football Magazine named Walker the Southwest Conference's top passer prior to the 1977 season, yet he set Aggie records for single-game carries and yards by an A&M quarterback when he rushed 27 times for 182 yards in a come-from-behind 38-21 win against SMU. The record for carries stood for 30 years until it was broken by current Aggie quarterback Stephen McGee in a 2007 game against Nebraska. When Walker was injured for a game against TCU that season, he was replaced by another freshman quarterback sensation Mike Mosley, who had a spectacular game in a 52-23 thrashing of the Horned Frogs. Walker returned for the final regular season games against top-ranked Texas and the University of Houston to complete the 8-3 season but because of injuries sat out the 47-28 1977 Bluebonnett Bowl loss to USC until the final minutes, a game in which Mosely rushed for 180 yards.

Although Walker did not accumulate gaudy statistics in Emory Bellard's wishbone offense, once he mastered the nuances he operated the Aggies' multi-faceted triple option attack with precision. He quarterbacked the Aggies to a 25-9 record as a starter, making him (at the time) the winningest quarterback in Aggie history. To this day, he ranks second only to Corey Pullig for Aggie career wins as a QB. Once called by Bellard, "The toughest player I've ever coached", he completed his career as the #2 all-time Total Offense leader behind former Aggie quarterback Ed Hargett, ranked 5th in the Southwest Conference for career wins and was twice an Aggie Team Captain (1976 & 1977).

Walker taught Algebra and was Offensive Coordinator at Jersey Village and Round Rock Westwood, and also served as Head Football Coach for Union Grove (1986), Marble Falls (1988) and Houston Memorial (1989-1992) High Schools before entering private business.

External links

* [http://gutsnglue.tripod.com/si_oct1077.htm Sports Illustrated article]
* [http://www.kvue.com/sports/stories/081905kvueAggie-eh.8b3c8219.html A&M career records]
* [http://www.aggieathletics.com/press/PDF/MFB_2002_11_10_missouri.pdf Aggie Athletics press release]