Cas Walker

Orton Caswell "Cas" Walker (March 23, 1902 – September 25, 1998), was a Tennessee businessman, politician, and personality on television and radio.

[1] He quit school at the age of 14 and spent several years working at different jobs around the region, namely at the Champion Fibre Company in North Carolina and later at various coal mines in Kentucky.

In 1924, he returned to East Tennessee where he established the first Cas Walker's Cash Store in Knoxville with money he had saved.

This image was enhanced in 1956 when Life Magazine published a photograph of Walker preparing to punch fellow city councilman J. S. Cooper after the two had engaged in a heated debate over property assessments.

[4] Walker's political mentor-turned-rival, George Dempster, once said, "If I ordered a whole carload of SOB's and they just sent Cas, I'd sign for the shipment.

[4] During the same period, Walker's influence helped defeat a second attempt to merge the Knoxville and Knox County governments.