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Knoxville makes the NYT - but this time, for the right reasons
Posted By katie allison granju
This time, we can be proud:
Nobody disputes the accomplishments of Jackie Walker, a local high school football star and pioneering all-American linebacker at Tennessee in 1970 and ’71.
Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer, a teammate of Jackie Walker’s, said Walker should be in Knoxville’s Sports Hall of Fame.
At Fulton High School here, he averaged 23 tackles a game his senior season. He went on to become the first African-American football player in the Southeastern Conference to be named an all-American and the first to captain an SEC team. And almost four decades after his college career ended, and six years after his death, Walker remains in the N.C.A.A. record book for his ability to return interceptions for touchdowns.Despite Walker’s accomplishments, few know much, if anything, about him. And that, largely, is because of the way he lived his life off the field after his playing days.
Walker was gay, which he made no effort to hide after his senior season at Tennessee. That is why his name has faded from memory, according to his brother, Marshall, and several of his teammates and coaches. When Walker was dying of AIDS in 2002, his brother told him he would change that, pledging to help get him into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame. Walker laughed, convinced that it would never happen.
Now, it appears that Marshall Walker’s promise has paid off. The Hall of Fame is expected to include Jackie Walker when it releases its latest class of inductees Sunday.
Apr 18th, 2008
