He played 15 seasons with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as a linebacker and placekicker.
[4] Walker played college football at the University of Idaho in Moscow, then a member of the Pacific Coast Conference, as a center and middle linebacker for the Vandals under head coach Skip Stahley.
[5][10][11] He also played in the College All-Star Game in mid-August 1958, helping the pro rookies defeat the Detroit Lions, his new team, 35–19.
[2] After his retirement from the NFL, Walker was the sports director for KPIX-TV, the CBS affiliate in San Francisco, for 20 years, from 1974 to 1994, where he succeeded Barry Tompkins.
During the 1979 season, when the struggling A's lost 108 games, he teamed up with fellow southern Idahoan Harmon Killebrew.
[23] Diagnosed with throat cancer in June 2007, Walker lost 60 pounds (27 kg) after chemotherapy and radiation treatment.