David Walker (quarterback)

David Walker was a left-handed American football quarterback for Texas A&M University in the mid-70's. He was also Louisiana's 1972 All-State Quarterback and the state's Outstanding Offensive Player while playing for Sulphur High School and legendary coach Shannon Suarez. Over the course of his career Walker led Texas A&M to a 37-14 Sun Bowl victory over Florida to cap off the 10-2 1976 season with a No. 7 A.P. ranking, and had the Aggies ranked No. 5 in the country after an impressive 33-17 win over No. 7 Texas Tech in 1977.

Making the transition from drop-back passer to the Wishbone offense of head coach Emory Bellard, Walker in 1973 was a 17-year-old freshman phenom who became the youngest college quarterback ever and the first true freshman starter at quarterback in the modern era. Walker's first start of his freshman season was a 35-16 win against TCU. The victory broke a four game losing streak against the Frogs and was the first of 24 straight the Aggies have won in the series. The Aggies finished the season as the 3rd-highest scoring team in A&M history and Walker was named the U.P.I. All-Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year.

In Walker's sophomore season in 1974 he led A&M through an 8-3 campaign, A&M's first winning season since the victorious Cotton Bowl team of 1967. Texas A&M had won only 53 games the previous 17 years, and 1974 marked the beginning of the Aggies' winning tradition in the sport of football. Their 21-14 win over the 5th ranked LSU Tigers, only the Aggies' second in 15 tries at LSU's deafening Tiger Stadium, catapulted the previously unranked squad to No. 9 in the country. In the game the Aggies had three ball carriers break the century mark in rushing; Skip Walker with 130, Bubba Bean with 127, and fullback Bucky Sams who finished with 107 yards and scored the winning touchdown late in the 4th quarter. Walker suffered an undiagnosed sternoclavicular dislocation in the team's loss at SMU, but he played through the remainder of the season with the devastating injury to his passing arm. A final game loss at Texas kept them from the Cotton Bowl and the SWC championship, thus allowing Grant Teaff's Baylor team, a 20-0 victim of the Aggies earlier in the season, to claim the crown. The Aggies' Top 15 ranking marked the first time since 1957 the Aggies had been ranked at season's end and only the sixth since their 1939 National Championship.

After the disappointing year-ending losses to SMU and Texas Walker was demoted to 4th team and replaced by Texas All-Stater and fellow junior David Shipman prior to the 1975 season, thereby becoming the first redshirt during Emory Bellard's tenure. The '75 Aggies rose to No. 2 and had the country's top-ranked defense before ending the season with one-sided losses to Arkansas and Liberty Bowl opponent Southern California. Walker suited up only for the Arkansas game in 1975, an occurrence very similar to that of the original 12th Man at Texas A&M, E. King Gill. And like Gill, Walker was not called upon by the A&M coaches, even though his team lost 31-6 in the nationally televised debacle. Walker, then a 17-game starter, made the trip to Little Rock only because of an injury to backup quarterback Mike Jay. The following spring he dejectedly relinquished his scholarship at Texas A&M and signed to play for USL, now Louisiana-Lafayette. He reconsidered his transfer over the summer however, and returned to Texas A&M for the '76 season.

Walker moved up from third team to regain the starting QB job for the final seven games, all lop-sided victories, including the first win in 20 years on the University of Texas campus, and only the second win for the Aggies over a 55-year span at Memorial Stadium. It was a decisive 27-3 victory in Darryl Royal's final A&M game as UT's head coach. The Aggies also avenged the 1975 loss to Arkansas 31-10 in a game again played in Little Rock. It would also be legendary Razorbacks coach Frank Broyles' final game of his career against the Aggies. Walker capped off the season by leading the Aggies to a 37-14 victory over Florida in the Sun Bowl, applying the finishing touches to A&M's second consecutive 10 win season. This was a first in A&M history and a feat accomplished only 3 times since. In the game Walker was 11 of 18 for 122 yards, including a touchdown pass to fullback George Woodard. Walker also scored in the 2nd quarter on a 9-yard keeper. The Sporting News ranked Texas A&M #3 and the A.P. had them 7th in the country following the season. It would be 1985 before the Aggies would be ranked again in a final poll. The '76 team was the only team in 46 years (1939-1985) to beat Texas, win its bowl game, and earn an A.P. Top 10 ranking, and only three other teams in Aggie football history did that. It's also the only A&M team to ever beat Texas AT Texas, win its bowl game, and earn an A.P. Top 10 ranking. This team is one of only five in Aggie football history to win its bowl game and be voted into the final A.P. Top 10. Walker was voted team captain by his 1976 Aggie teammates, completing what is possibly the greatest comeback in NCAA history.

Texas Football Magazine named Walker the Southwest Conference's top passer prior to the 1977 season, yet he set both Texas A&M and SWC records for single-game carries and yards by a quarterback when he rushed 27 times for 182 yards in a come-from-behind 38-21 win against SMU. The school record for carries stood for 30 years until it was broken by Stephen McGee in a 2007 game against Nebraska. Walker's school record for QB rushing yardage stood until Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel ran for 229 yards on 17 carries against Oklahoma in a 41-13 victory in the 2013 Cotton Bowl 35 years later.

When Walker was injured for a game against TCU in the '77 season he was replaced by another freshman quarterback sensation Mike Mosley who had a spectacular game in a 52-23 thrashing of the Horned Frogs. Walker returned for the final regular season games against top-ranked Texas and the University of Houston to complete the 8-3 season. He then sat out the 47-28 1977 Bluebonnet Bowl loss to USC until the final minutes, a game in which Mosely rushed for 180 yards.

Although Walker did not accumulate gaudy statistics in Emory Bellard's wishbone offense, once he mastered its nuances he operated the Aggies' triple option attack fearlessly and with flawless precision. He quarterbacked the Aggies to a 25-9 record as a starter, making him the winningest quarterback in A&M history. To this day he ranks second only to Corey Pullig for Aggie career wins. Walker completed his career as the #2 all-time Total Offense leader at A&M behind Edd Hargett and ranked 5th in the Southwest Conference for career wins. He was twice voted Aggie Team Captain (1976 & 1977) and was head football coach for three Texas high schools; Union Grove, Marble Falls and Houston Memorial.

David "Moon" Walker was one of twelve graduates Inducted into the Inaugural Sulphur High School Centennial Hall of Fame on April 20, 2013. Graduating from Sulphur in 1973, Walker was the lone inductee from the school's previous 50 years of existence. He recently released a book titled, "I'll Tell You When You're Good ~ America's 12th Man Quarterback" available at his website and other online distributors, detailing his life growing up in Sulphur and his difficult football career at A&M.

• I'll Tell You When You're Good
• 12th Man Quarterback Website
• David Walker on Aggie Football (2012) - Gamedayr
• Texas A&M Top Ten Quarterbacks - Bleacher Report