by No Quarter » Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:10 pm
I guess this can be considered a story about the modest nature of Doak Walker.
I was born in1938 and lived in Park Cities between 1942 and 1960 which is to say I grew up there during Walker's time at SMU. I was not a Methodist but my Cub Scout Pack was the one based at Highland Park Methodist Church and of course on the SMU campus. My Den met at the home of an SMU Professor who lived a few streets from the campus. The Pack meetings were at the church.
Doak Walker and another SMU player were the guest speakers at a Pack Meeting one night. They were about the same size and build. Even I, not much of a sports fan knew which one was Doak. Both of them said a few words and I have no idea what. As I write this I have no idea who the other player was, just that I knew his name at the time.
After the meeting was over though, my mother said she was really surprised, that looking at the two young men ,she had picked the wrong one to be Doak because he was the more imposing figure of the two. Of course, on the football field there was no comparison though I really learned that many years later. My father took me to a few SMU games in which Doak played but I don't remember a thing about any of them and I never saw the Doaker again close up.