Walker won 59 games at Miami, more than noted coaches who preceded him such as Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Bill Mallory, and Ara Parseghian.

[1] He played three seasons at fullback for the Miami Redskins in Oxford under head coaches Bill Mallory and Dick Crum.

Walker finished with 59–35–5 record including several victories over ranked opponents from major conference such as #25 Northwestern in 1995, #12 Virginia Tech in 1997 and #12 North Carolina in 1998.

His run game was so strong, in fact, that only one season in Walker's entire time at Northwestern did he fail to coach a 1000-yard rusher.

On June 29, 2006, Walker, who was only 52, died suddenly of an apparent heart attack, leaving the Northwestern community shocked and saddened.

Born to Jim Walker, an accountant with Hobart Corporation,[1] and Ruth Ann Walker,[5] he grew up in Troy, Ohio and graduated from Troy High School, where he played fullback and defensive back on the 1971 team that was picked by the Dayton Daily News as the area's best team over the past 50 years.

He is survived by his wife and high-school sweetheart, Tammy (aka "Tamara"; née Weikert), and two children, daughter Abbey and son Jamie.

After the game his coach, James "Jim" Conard, made the entire team walk around with a piece of cloth that was 18 inches long, until the start of the 1970 season.

[6] Walker gave up his first love, baseball, joined the track team for speed and stamina, and started lifting weights, gaining 30 pounds.