Ewell Doak Walker II was an American professional football player for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.
45 Facts About Doak Walker
2.
Doak Walker played college football as a halfback at Southern Methodist University, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1948.
3.
Doak Walker was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.
4.
The Doak Walker Award, awarded annually since 1990 to the top running back in college football, is named after him.
5.
Doak Walker's mother Emma was a Texas native, and he had a younger sister, Elsa.
6.
Doak 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.
7.
In 1944, Doak Walker led his high school football team to the state championship game.
8.
The war ended in August 1945, and Doak Walker was discharged from the Merchant Marine on November 1,1945.
9.
Two days after being discharged from the Merchant Marine, Doak Walker appeared in his first college football game for Southern Methodist University.
10.
Doak Walker did not play college football in 1946, as he was inducted into the US Army in March 1946.
11.
Doak Walker's stint was brief, playing football for the Brooke Medical Center service team in San Antonio before being discharged in January 1947.
12.
Doak Walker gained similar All-American honors in 1948, and 1949.
13.
Doak Walker won the Maxwell Award as a sophomore in 1947 and the Heisman Trophy in 1948 as a junior.
14.
Doak Walker threw six touchdown passes from the halfback position, going 26-for-46 and gaining 304 yards in the air.
15.
Doak Walker punted for a 42.1 yard average for the Mustangs, returned punts and kickoffs, and did duty as the SMU placekicker.
16.
Doak Walker finished the year with 11 touchdowns scored, which combined with his kicking put 88 points on the scoreboard for the year.
17.
In Detroit, Doak Walker was reunited with former high school teammate Bobby Layne who the Lions acquired by trade in April 1950.
18.
Doak Walker appeared in all 12 games for the 1950 Lions at the left halfback position; he rushed for 386 yards on 83 carries, caught 34 passes for 534 yards, and totaled 1,262 all-purpose yards.
19.
Doak Walker was selected by both the Associated Press and United Press as a first-team player on the 1950 All-Pro Team.
20.
Doak Walker had another strong season in 1951, appearing in all 12 games at left halfback for the Lions, totaling 1,270 all-purpose yards, scoring 97 points, and leading the NFL with 43 extra points.
21.
Doak Walker was again selected by the AP and UP as a first-team All-Pro.
22.
Doak Walker suffered leg injuries that limited him to seven games during the 1952 season.
23.
Doak Walker 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.
24.
Healthy for the full 1953 season, Doak Walker helped lead the Lions to their second consecutive NFL championship.
25.
Doak Walker ranked third in the NFL with 93 points scored and totaled 978 all-purpose yards, including 502 receiving yards and 337 rushing yards.
26.
In 1954, Doak Walker helped lead the Lions to their third consecutive NFL Western Division championship.
27.
Doak Walker led the NFL with 43 extra points and an average of 14.4 yards per touch.
28.
Doak Walker ranked second in the NFL with 106 points scored and third with 11 field goals.
29.
Doak Walker kicked a field goal and an extra point in the 1954 NFL Championship Game and was selected by the AP, UP, and The Sporting News as a first-team back on the 1954 All-Pro Team.
30.
In July 1955, Doak Walker signed a contract worth $27,500 to play a final season for the Lions and to serve as a special scout for the Lions in Texas in 1956 and 1957.
31.
At age 28, Doak Walker retired not because his abilities had diminished but because of the need to attend to multiple business interests in Texas.
32.
Doak Walker scored 11 points in the final game of the season to secure the league's scoring title.
33.
Doak Walker's 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.
34.
Doak Walker's jersey was retired as part of the ceremony.
35.
At the time of his retirement, Doak Walker ranked third in NFL history with 534 points scored in six NFL seasons.
36.
Doak Walker totaled 1,520 rushing yards on 309 carries and 152 receptions for 2,539 yards.
37.
Doak Walker 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.
38.
Doak Walker 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.
39.
Doak Walker appeared on 47 covers, including Life, Look and Collier's.
40.
In March 1950, Doak Walker married his college sweetheart, Norma Jane Peterson, at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas.
41.
Doak Walker married Olympic ski racer Skeeter Werner in 1969, and they lived in her hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
42.
Doak 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.
43.
Doak Walker took a position as a coach with the Akron Vulcans of the Continental Football League.
44.
Doak Walker later founded Walker Chemicals in Denver, a company he sold upon retirement.
45.
In January 1998, at age 71, Doak Walker was paralyzed from the neck down in a skiing accident at Steamboat Springs, Colorado.