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Long Beach Legend, Walker, Passes Away
by Bob Keisser, Long Beach Press-Telegram
January 25, 2007
There were many tears shed Thursday when the Long Beach sports community
learned that one of its icons, Del Walker, had passed away at the age
of 93. But it's a comment on the life of the man that there were probably
twice as many smiles and warm memories.
For 80 years, Walker's smile, good cheer, integrity and true affection
for people and life have been a beacon for the city, and there was nary
an institution in town where he didn't leave his mark. He was a student-athlete
at Wilson, coach at Poly, athletic director at Long Beach City College
and golf coach at Long Beach State.
That doesn't even brush Walker's golf career that began in 1932 and lives
on today at Virginia Country Club, where he won nine club titles, has
a driving range named after him and where the flag was lowered in his
honor Thursday.
"I would say the one word that describes him is integrity,"
his son Jim Walker said Thursday. "Integrity. You knew what he was
thinking and what he would do.
"I'm 52, and I never heard him swear once, never saw him drink except
for a sip of champagne at a wedding. He never smoked. He set a good example
for all of us."
"Everyone who knew him loved him and knew what a good person he was,"
said Long Beach State golf coach Bob Livingstone. "I always told
people that for all the golf I learned from him, if I was half the person
he was, I would feel good about myself."
A beautiful mind
Even in passing, Del Walker will continue to give to the community.
In this case, it is USC and the future treatment of Alzheimer's patients.
In 2003, the USC's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center asked Walker if
he would donate his brain upon his passing. He had come to their attention
through a Press-Telegram story about his incredibly sharp mind and vibrant
health on his 90th birthday, and they felt their research into Alzheimer's
and other brain ailments would benefit from studying his brain.
"All I did was ask them not to take it until I was done with it,"
Del Walker joked at the time.
Jim Walker said he would joke with his dad, a UCLA alum, that when his
brain arrived at USC, it would be the smartest brain ever on campus.
Upon Walker's passing, he was taken to USC for the brain procedure.
"The last time I saw him was about ten days ago, and he was still
sharp," said Livingstone. "He was eating and I asked him what
it was. He said, `I think it's a spinach quiche.' I said `better you than
me' and he shot back `not really.'
"He was ready. Most times, he would say that he'd had a good life
and great times, and that it was time. He wanted to see as much of his
grandkids as possible, and maybe sneak a piece of candy when he could."
Jim said his dad's passing was bittersweet. He will obviously miss him,
but there's a side to his passing - no longer feeling any pain and now
being reunited with his beloved wife Marty - that provides relief.
"He needed to be with mom," he said. "He's been fighting
this for 22 months, and the congenital heart failure had set in so strong.
It was overpowering and he just kept fighting. I wanted him to be at peace."
Livingstone said there was a picture of Marty, a teacher and superb golfer
in her own right, on the wall of Del's convalescent room, and when someone
suggested adding some pictures to the wall, Del said "just don't
put them higher than mother's (Marty)."
"He was the greatest dad you could ever have," Jim Walker said.
"The crazy thing is, we were almost better friends. We had so much
fun together. We loved watching games together. He started taking me to
games when I was a kid - Poly, Wilson, USC, UCLA, Rams - and as I got
older there would be weekends when we'd see four or five games."
Walker was born in Rapid City, S.D., on Sept. 15, 1913, and his family
moved to Long Beach in 1927. He attended Jefferson Junior High and Wilson
High School, where he played C basketball. He didn't pick up golf until
he went to Long Beach City College, and was unbeaten in two seasons with
the Vikings, winning the 1932 state junior college title.
He then went to UCLA where he suffered one loss in two varsity seasons.
He segued into teaching, first in Fresno and then on Catalina before being
enticed to return to Long Beach as Poly's basketball coach. He was the
Jackrabbits coach for eight years, winning the CIF title in 1956. "The
first game I ever went to was a Poly game when he coached, and I sat on
the scorer's table," said Jim Walker.
A year later, he moved to Long Beach City College and served as athletic
director and chairman of the physical education department for 18 years.
This was the heyday of Vikings sports with the coaching staff stuffed
with quality coaches like Jim Stangeland, Charlie Church, Joe Hicks, Monte
Nitzkowski and Joe Lanning.
He retired but was talked back into coaching the Long Beach State golf
team, "for one year." He stayed for 13. He retired for good
in 1994.
His wife Marty was as much of an icon as he was. They met at Wilson and
married in 1938, and she became a special education teacher for the blind
and sight-impaired at Wilson for 37 years as well as the first woman to
coach a boys sports team when she was named the Bruins' golf coach. She
would eventually join him at Long Beach State as the women's golf coach.
"They had one of the great love affairs," Livingstone said.
"She always called him coach and he always called her mother. They
were absolutely one and the same. I'm surprised he survived as long as
did after she was passed. It was one of those things where you didn't
think he could be away from her that long."
Legend on the links
Del Walker's golf career was stunning in its success and longevity.
He was one of the top amateurs in the nation in the late '30s and early
'40s, competing in four U.S. Amateur Championships against players who
had or would win major titles like the British Open, U.S. Open and PGA
titles.
He won four Long Beach City titles, his first in 1942, and nine Virginia
CC titles, his first in 1941 and his last in 1977 at the age of 64. He
had a second career in masters events in the '60s and '70s, winning the
International Seniors Championship in Gleneagles, Scotland in 1975.
"He was voted the golfer of the century in Long Beach and the first
inductee in our golf Hall of Fame (at Skylinks), among other things"
said Len Kennett, the Hall of Fame chairman. Walker is also in the Century
Club and Long Beach State Hall of Fames and Long Beach City College's
Hall of Champions. "His accomplishments in golf can't be overstated.
He won four city championships at a time when some of the best players
in the country were amateurs, and Del knocked them all on their backside."
All of the Walkers' vacations were an excuse to find new golf courses
to play around the world. He and Marty visited 87 different countries
together, including Kenya, Russia, Nepal and China. Their favorite stop
was Scotland and they played on every course ever used in the British
Open.
"He has many different legacies," said Livingstone. "You
could look at just the people's lives he's touched. He once told me he
had just one regret, and that was the day he told a player to shut up.
All of the nice things people say about him are true. He was just a genuinely
nice, caring person."
Jamie Mulligan is the head pro at Virginia Country Club, played golf for
Marty at Wilson and helped get the driving range named for Del.
"There's a book, `Golf in the Kingdom,' which is a metaphor for life,"
he said. "At the end, the author writes, `You can't line up square
physically unless everything is square mentally.' And no one ever looked
more square to the target than Del."
"He just represented all of the good things you want to see in a
sportsman," said Kennett. "He was a strong competitor but a
gentle man who never took advantage of anyone. UCLA has their John Wooden
and Long Beach has Del Walker. They're cut from the same piece of cloth,
and we're lucky to have had him."
Walker is survived by his son Jim, daughter-in-law Darlene, eight grandchildren
(Kurtis, Gregory, Desiree, Charlie, Jamie, Leslie, Daniel and James),
his brain at USC and a large community of Long Beach sportsmen who will
never let his memory pass away.
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