Texas high school track champions, 1905-2012 Updated, April 22, 2012 by Dr. William (Billy) Wilbanks Self-Published by Dr. Wilbanks on Computer Disc in 2005 & 2006 Placed on Internet website in May

David L. Roberts, 1969
Conroe’s David Roberts broke a state record in winning the 4A pole vault in 1969 and was a 3-time NCAA champion at Rice University in 1971-73. He was ranked no. 1 in the world in the pole vault in 1971 & 1976, twice broke the world’s record and won a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. In 2004 Dr. David L. Roberts was an emergency room physician in Gainesville FL.
David Luther Roberts was born on July 23, 1951, in Stillwater OK to Bob and Bert Roberts. He and his brother, Mark, grew up in Conroe TX where David graduated from Conroe H.S. in 1969.
Roberts finished 5^th (at 13') in the Texas 3A pole vault as a soph in 1967 and won the 4A pole vault in 1969 as a Conroe H.S. senior vaulting 15' 02" to break the state record set the year before at 15' 01". He had vaulted a personal best of 15' 8" earlier in the year at the Blinn Relays. David started vaulting at the age of 11 and was coached during his high school and college career by Tommy Marshall and Dugie Brutera and Tom Tellez.
Roberts enrolled in Rice University in September of 1969 and won the NCAA pole vault in 1971 (17' 06.5"), 1972 (17' 03") and 1973 (17' 04"). He won the Texas Relays in 1971 (17' 0") and 1973 (17' 01") and his 1972 Rice school record of 18' 0.2" still stood in 2004 after 32 years.
David won the US Men’s Outdoor Championship in 1972 (17' 03") and 1974 (17' 04") and was ranked No. 1 in the world 1971 & 1976; 2^nd in the world in 1972 and 1974; 3^rd in 1975 and 4^th in 1973. He set a world’s record in the pole vault on two occasionsCat 18' 6.5" on March 28, 1975, at Gainesville FL and at 18' 8.2" on June 22, 1976, at Eugene OR. His 1976 world record stood until 1980.
Roberts won a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal as he and Poland’s Tadeusz Slusarski and Finland’s Antti Kaliomaki all tied at a height of 5.5 meters (18' 0 & 2"). Sluzarski was awarded the gold and Slusarski the silver based on fewer misses reaching that height. Roberts retired from track after the 1976 Olympics and was inducted into the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981.
Dr. David L. Roberts received a medical degree from the University of Florida in 1979 and is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2004 he and his wife, Fahaa, lived near Gainesville FL where David was an emergency room physician at Shands Hospital and Alachua General Hospital. He is also a writer and is listed in the Directory of American Poets & Writers for his poetry and fiction.

Kevin Robinzine, 1983-1984
Kevin Robinzine won TX high school state championships in the 400-meters in 1983 & 1984 and was a 9-time All-American at SMU winning four NCAA titles as a member of the Mustang 1600-meter relay team. He won an Olympic gold medal with the USA 1600-meter relay team which set a world record at the 1988 Olympics.
Robinzine won two 3-A state titles in the 400-meter dash running for Everman H.S.. As a junior in 1983 he won the 4A 400-meters in 47.4 and repeated as a senior in 1984 in 45.8Bbreaking a 6-year old Conference 4A record set in 1978 by Waco Connally’s Steve Willis. In the summer of 1984 Kevin won the 400-meters at the Golden West National H.S. meet in CA at 46.44.

Kevin’s 1985 SMU 4 X 400-meter relay team (Harold Spells, Sven Nylander, Kevin Robinzine & Rod Jones) won the NCAA indoor title at the indoor record of 3:08.50. The team also had the all-time world best indoor time of 3:02.95. His 1986 4 X 400-meter relay team (Harold Spells, Roy Martin, Rod Jones & Kevin Robinzine) won the NCAA indoors at 3:06.24 (a record) and NCAA outdoors at 3:01.62 and won the Texas Relays (3:01.01) and Penn Relays (3:01.92). His 1987 4 X 400-meter relay team (Harold Spells, Roy Martin, Cedric Matterson & Kevin Robinzine) won the NCAA indoor at 3:07.63 and was runner-up at the NCAA outdoors at 3:00.81. The team also set an all-time SWC record ranking 3^rd on the all-time collegiate list and won the Drake Relays at 3:01.18. The 1985, 1986 & 1987 400-meter relay teams are on the SMU Wall of Fame.

Kevin Robinzine is also on SMU’s Wall of Fame for his success in individual events. He was a nine-time All-American. He was 3^rd in the 1986 NCAA 400-meters at 45.25; 4^th at the 1987 NCAA 400-meters at 45.20; and was 2^nd in the 1987 indoor 500-meters at 1:00.55. In 2004 he still held SMU indoor records at 500-meters (1:00.55) and 300-meters (33.30) and his 4 x 400 relays teams from 1985-87 hold the top five times in SMU history with the best at 300.81 in 1987. Also, the top 5 all-time SMU 4 x 100 meter relays teams included Robinzine with his 1986 team of T. Lovelace, Robinzine, Rod Jones & Roy Martin holding the top spot at 39.04 in 1986. He is 2^nd all-time at SMU in the indoors 400-meters at 47.44 and 2^nd all-time in the outdoors 400-meters at 45.04. He was ranked 7^th in the U.S. in the 400-meters in 1985; 10^th in 1986; 7^th in 1987; and 6^th in 1988.
At the 1988 Olympics Kevin was a member of the USA 1600-meter relay team (Danny Everett, Steve Lewis, Kevin Robinzine & Butch Reynolds) which won the gold medal at the world record time of 2:56.16. Kevin ran a 44.7 leg in the gold medal winning performance.


Eddie Southern, 1954-1955
Eddie Southern won 4 career gold medals at the state track meet in 1954-55. His 3 gold at the 1955 meet included national records in the 220-yd dash and 440-yd dash. He went on to become a UT All-American and NCAA and U.S. champion in the 440. He won a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.
Eddie Southern won the 2A 120-yd high hurdles at 14.5 for Dallas Sunset as a junior in 1954. As a senior he won the 2A 120-yd high hurdles at 14.2; the 220-yd dash at 20.7 and the 440-yd dash at 47.2. His 20.7 in the 220 was a state record from 1955-1966 and a national record (tied the record of the legendary Jesse Owens set 20 years earlier) from 1955-1961 and his 47.2 440-yd dash was a state record from 1955-1966 and a national record from 1955-1956. Eddie also won the H.S. Texas Relays 120-yd hurdles in 1954 (14.8) and 1955 (14.7).
Southern ran track at UT from 1956-1959 and won the SWC titles in the 440-yd dash and mile relay from 1957-1959. He won SWC championships in four different eventsCthe 220-yd dash (20.5); the 100-yd dash (9.5); the 120-yd hurdles (14.1); and the 440-yd dash (47.0). He held the SWC record during his career in the 100 (at 9.5), the 220 (20.5), the 440-yd relay (40.0), and the mile relay (3:11.6Bwith his anchor leg of 46.5). He never lost a SWC race in his UT career. He was the NCAA champion in the 440-yd dash in 1959 (46.4) and was a member of UT’s world record breaking 440-yd and 880-yd relay teams while at UT. He won the U.S. Men’s Outdoor Championship in the 440-yd dash in 1958 at 45.8 and in 1959 at 46.4 and the National A.A.U. 440-yd dash in 1958 at 45.8 (still a record) and in 1959 at 46.1.
Eddie made the 1956 U.S. Olympic team after his freshman track season at UT and won a silver medal in the Olympic 400-meter hurdles behind the USA’s Glenn Davis. He was co-holder of the Olympic record in the 400-meter hurdles at 50.1.
Southern was an Air Force R.O.T.C. cadet while at the U. of Texas and served three years (1959-62) of active duty after graduation. He ran in the All-Air Force meet in Abilene in 1959 and in the 1960 All-Service Meet qualifying for the Olympic Trials in Palo Alto CA. Eddie suffered heat prostration running the 400-meters at the 1960 AAU and did not run in the finals. He placed 4^th in the 400-meter hurdles at the Olympic Trials and made the 1960 Olympic team as an alternate. He ran on one 1960 USA 4 X 400 relay team which broke a world record. Southern competed in several national and international meets while serving in the Air Force. For example, he won the TX Relays in the 440-yd hurdles in 1960 (51.0) and 1961 (50.8) and was the U.S. Men’s Indoor Champion at 600-meters in 1961 at 1:11.9. His world ranking in the 400-meter hurdles was #6 in 1960 and #8 in 1961.

Southern retired after the 1961 season with career personal bests of 9.4 in the 100; 20.5 in the 220; 13.9 in the 120-yd hurdles; 22.8 in the 220-yd low hurdles; 45.8 in the 440-yd dash; 49.7 (at the 1956 U.S. Olympic trials) in the 400-meter hurdles; and a 44.6 leg in UT’s national collegiate record 3:09.1 relay. Eddie Southern is a member of the UT Wall of Horns and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. He graduated from UT in 1959 with a B.B.A. and worked in the food service industry most of his business career. Eddie has three children (Suzanne Hamic, Caroline Southern and Steve Southern) and four grandchildren (Michael Southern, Matthew Pomroy, and Hannah and Sofie Morrow). He and his wife, Susan, live in DeSoto TX.

Dean Smith, 1949
Dean Smith won the 2A 100-yd dash at the 1949 state track meet and went on to an All-American career at UT. He won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics in the 400-meter relay and was a long-time Hollywood stuntman.
Smith ran for Graham in the 1949 state meet as a junior winning the 2A 100-yd dash in 10.0. He was undefeated that year and made the Look Magazine All-American 100-yd dash team. Dean was plagued by allergies as a senior but did finish 2^nd to Odessa’s Joe Childress in both the 100-yd and 220-yd dashes in the 1950 2A meet. (Childress set 2A records of 9.8 & 21.1). Dean was also an all-state running back in football at Graham.
Smith ran at UT in 1951-52 and 1954-1955 under the legendary Coach Clyde Littlefield. He was the 100-yd dash champion at the Texas Relays in 1951, 1952 and 1954, the Sugar Bowl in 1951, 1952 & 1954, the Kansas Relays in 1954 & 1955, the Coliseum Relays in 1954, the Drake Relays in 1954 and the Compton Relays in 1955. He was undefeated in duel and triangular track meets while in college and ran 9.3 against USC, A&M and SMU. He was the SWC 100-yd dash champ in 1952 (9.5), 1953 (9.5) and 1955 (9.5) and the SWC 220-yd dash champ in 1955 at 20.7. He ran on UT’s SWC champion 440-yd relay teams in 1952 (41.9), 1954 (41.1) & 1955 (40.8) and was a 7-time SWC winner in the 100 and relays and ran on UT’s world record breaking 440-yd relay team in 1955. He was a 3-time NCAA All-American and his best finishes at the NCAA meet were 4th in the 100-meters (10.6) in 1952; 4^th in the 100-yd dash (9.8) in 1954; and 5^th in the 100-yd dash (9.7) in 1955. He won the National AAU 100-meter dash in 1952 and had personal bests of 9.2 & 20.3 at College Station in 1954. Smith’s college career included three years as a 160 lb running back for UT as a freshman-junior in 1951-53. The Longhorns won the SWC in 1952 and beat Tennessee in the 953 Cotton Bowl.
In world rankings, Smith was ranked 7^th in the 100-meters in 1952, 5^th in the 100 in 1954, and 7^th in 1955. He was also ranked 7^th in the world in the 200-meters in 1955. In U.S. rankings, Smith was ranked 5^th in the U.S. in 1952, 4^th in 1954 & 4^th in 1955. He was 6^th in the U.S. in the 200 in 1955. Smith made the 1952 U.S. Olympic team after his soph year at UT and ran the opening leg on the USA’s 400-meter relay team (Dean Smith, Harrison Dillard, Lindy Remigino & Andy Stanfield) which won the gold medal in 40.1. Smith also finished 4^th in the 1952 Olympic 100-meters in Helsinki, Finland in 10.4 (Remigino won the gold). Smith became UT’s & Coach Clyde Littlefield’s first gold medalist in track.
Dean joined the U.S. Army in October of 1955 and served thru 1957 He won the All-Army 100-yd championship at 9.3 but was not able to train for the 1956 Olympics. After discharge from the Army Smith played several games for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams during the 1957 exhibition season before actor James Garner helped him get a job as a Hollywood stunt man. He had been working as a professional rodeo cowboy and had won bareback riding and calf roping championships as a teenager in Graham before his track/football career began.
For 35 years (from 1957-1992) Smith worked as a stunt man in Hollywood appearing in place of stars during the dangerous scenes in scores of movies as The Alamo, The Comancheros, How the West was Won, McClintock, Rio Conchos, Big Jake, El Dorado, True Grit, and The Sting. He also appeared in such western TV shows as Tales of Wells Fargo, Maverick, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, and Walker: Texas Ranger. He was the subject of a documentary, Dean Smith, Hollywood Stuntman.
Dean Smith continued running during his years in Hollywood and ran his last race at the age of 60 in a senior track meet at Occidental College. He was undefeated in senior meets from the ages of 39 - 60 and at the ages of 40 & 41 in 1972 & 1973 he won the national senior 100-meters and 200-meters. He won several “match races” while filming movies (e.g., while filming the movie Black Sunday at the Orange Bowl in 1976, Smith, 44, won a match race against Nat Moore, the Miami Dolphins’ fastest player).
After retiring from Hollywood, Smith organized the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo in Graham in honor of the late Ben Johnson which raised money for the American Cancer Society Cowboy Crusade. The Nov. 4-6, 2004 Celebrity Rodeo was held in honor and memory of John Wayne and included such celebrities and Patrick, John and Pilar Wayne.
Dean Smith is included on the UT Wall of Horns; the Stuntman’s Hall of Fame; and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco. In 1997 he received the “All American Cowboy Award” in Bandera TX and in 1998 was awarded the Golden Boot Award (similar to a Cowboy “Oscar”) in Hollywood CA. His Hollywood friends included John Wayne, Roy & Dale Rogers, Ben Johnson, & Dale Robertson.
Finis Dean Smith was born in Breckenridge TX on Jan. 15, 1932, to Finis and Georgia Smith. Dean’s mother died when he was two and he was raised in Eliasville TX by his grandmother, Ollie Smith, who along with his H.S. football coach, John E. Little, had the greatest influence on his life. He grew up in Breckenridge/Graham and graduated from Graham H.S. in 1950. He attended UT in 1950-1955 leaving a few courses short of graduation. In 2004 Dean Smith, 72, and his wife, Debra, and son Finis Dean Smith, II, 5, live on two ranches near Graham TX raising Longhorn cattle. He also has an older son, Charlie Thomas Smith (named after UT track teammate, Charlie Thomas).
Toby Stevenson, 1996
Toby (“Crash”) Stevenson won a silver medal in the pole vault at the 2004 Olympics after winning an NCAA championship at Stanford and a Texas H.S. championship for Odessa Permian in 1995.
Toby Stevenson was born on Nov. 19, 1976, in Odessa TX. His father, Eddie Stevenson, is a faculty member with the Kinesiology Dept. at the U. of Texas, Permian Basin.
Toby placed 3^rd in the 5A pole vault in 1994 as a junior at 15’ 0”. He won the 5A pole vault for Odessa Permian as a senior in 1995 at 16’ 6 ¼”. He cleared 16’ in every meet as a senior with a personal best of 17’ and was the no. 1 ranked 18-year-old vaulter in the world. He began wearing a hockey helmet while vaulting as a senior at the insistence of his parents and continued to do so thru the 2004 Olympics and became known as “Crash” Stevenson.

Toby, 6’ 175 lbs., vaulted at Stanford from 1997-2000. He vaulted 18’ 2 ½ as a soph in 1998 and as a junior in 1999. He vaulted a school record 18’ 9 ¼ as a senior setting a PAC-10 record. He was the NCAA outdoor champion in the pole vault as a soph in 1998 and was the PAC-10 champion and NCAA runner-up as a senior in 2000.

Toby “no heighted” at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2000 missing three times at the opening height of 18’ 1 ¾. He continued to compete after college and made his first national team in 2002 as he won the Pan American Games with a personal best 18’ 10 1/2”. Stevenson’s break-out year was 2004 after moving to Chula Vista CA and training with the U.S. Olympic Training Centre near San Diego. He vaulted a world-best 19’ 8 ¼ (6.00 meters) and had the best three marks in the world winning 8 meets during the year. He did not vault lower than 18’ 4” and cleared 19 feet 6 times. His personal best was just short of the American record of 19’ 9 ¼ by Jeff Hartwig and the world record of 20’ 1 ¾ by Sergey Bubka.
Stevenson won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics with a vault of 19’ 4” (5.90 meters) finishing 2^nd to gold medalist Timothy Mack of the U.S. at 19’ 6” (5.95 meters). Toby finished 2^nd at the U.S. Olympic Trials at 19’ 2 ¼ ( (5.85 meters) to Mack’s winning 19’ 4 ¼ (5.90 meters).
In 2004 Toby Stevenson lived in Chula Vista, CA, where he continued to compete in the pole vault. He is represented by agent, John Regis, and works out with strength and fitness coach Todd Henson at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

Charles Thomas, 1948-1950
Charlie Thomas won five gold medals at the TX H.S. track meet in 1948-50 for Splendora and Cleveland. He was a 3-time SWC champion in the 220-yd dash, an NCAA champion in the 220; and was ranked #1 in the world in the 200-meters in 1954. He was later the head track coach at Texas A&M for 32 years and coached 8 Olympic Champions.
Charles Thomas was born on Oct. 31, 1931, in Fostoria TX to Frank & Fannie Thomas. He grew up with a sister, Blondell, and was a 4-sport star in H.S. with Splendora and Cleveland. He won the Class B 220-yd dash as a soph in 1948 (21.6Ba B record from 1948-53) and junior in 1949 (21.9) before transferring to Cleveland where he won 3 gold at the 1950 meet in the 100 (9.7-a 1A record in 1950-58), 220 (20.9-a 1A record in 1950-58) and 200-low hurdles (22.0-a 1A record in 1950-51).
Charlie went to UT where he never lost a 220 race in the state of Texas during his career. He was a 3-time SWC champion in the 220 in 1952 (20.4), 1953 (21.7) & 1954 (21.1) and was the 100-yd SWC champion at 9.7 in 1954. He was also on UT’s SWC champion 440-yd relay teams in 1952 (41.9), 1953 (41.6) & 1954 (41.1). Thomas was the NCAA outdoor champion in the 220-yd dash in 1954 at 20.7 after finishing 4^th at the NCAA in 1953 and was an NCAA All-American in 1953 & 1954. Thomas was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 200Bmeters in 1954, 9^th in the world in 1951, 8^th in the world in 1952, and 10^th in the world in 1953. He was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in the 200-meters in 1954; 6^th in 1951, 5^th in 1952, and 5^th in 1954. He ran on UT’s world record 440-yd relay team in 1954 at 41.1
Thomas competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1952 after his soph season and finished 4^th in the 200-meter trials missing a place on the Olympic team by inches. Unfortunately the year he was ranked #1 in the world (1954) was not an Olympic year. He could not compete in the 1956 trials since he was considered a “professional” as a track coach.

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In 1952 Thomas received a degree in physical education from UT and a certification as an athletic trainer. He later received an M.A. degree from East Texas State and served as the head trainer and track coach at East Texas State from 1956-1959 before being named head trainer and track coach at A&M in 1959 at the age of 28. He was the A&M head coach until his retirement after the 1990 season. During his 32-year tenure at A&M the Aggies won four SWC team championships and had ten outdoor NCAA individual champions. Thomas coached eight Olympic champions (including Randy Matson, Randy Barnes & Mike Stulce in the shot put) and over 100 All-Americans. His men’s team set seven world records during his tenure.

Charles Thomas is one of only two men (the other is Dana X. Bible) on both the UT Wall of Honor and the Texas A&M Hall of Honor.
In 2004, Charles Thomas, 73, resided in College Station with his wife, Cecil. They have two children, Joel Thomas of New Mexico and Patricia Thomas McRoberts of College Station and one grandchild, Lori McRoberts of College Station.

Sam Walker, 1967-1968
Dallas Samuell’s Sam Walker held the Texas state shot put record for 10 years and the national record for 11 years. He was the first TX schoolboy to thow 70 feet and his 72' 3.2" mark in 1968 is still (36 years later) 3^rd on the all-time national high school shot put list. He was a 4-time All-American at SMU and made the 1976 U.S. Olympic weightlifting team.
Sam broke the city of Dallas 8^th & 9^th grade shot put records and threw 57'9" in the H.S. shot as a soph (3^rd in the region). He was undefeated in the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation (T.A.A.F.) shot put in 1965-1968 and in 1968 set a T.A.A.F. senior shot put mark of 66' 6" which still stood in 2004. He is on the TX Amateur Athletic Federation Hall of Fame. As a 16-year-old H.S. junior in 1967 he won the state championship at 61' 07" and broke the 16-year-old national record at 64'6" in a meet in Iowa. As a senior in 1968, the relatively small (6' & 200lbs.) Walker won the state championship at 68' 06" shattering (by almost 2 ft.) the state record held by the legendary Randy Matson. Also, in 1968 he became the first high school boy to break 70 ft. in the shot put and broke the national shot put record held by Dallas Long of Phoenix with a toss of 72' 3&1/4" in Corpus Christi. Walker broke & re-broke the state and national records in the shot put 11 times bettering the marks of two Olympic gold medalists, Matson and Long. Track & Field News made him the first high school boy to be placed on its cover (in the April, 1968 issue). Walker was also captain of the Dallas Samuell football team, was named All-City, and went to SMU on a football/track scholarship.
Walker held the state record for 10 years until 1968 when his pupil, Michael Carter, threw 71' 01&3/4" in 1978. Walker’s 11-year hold on the national record ended in 1979 when Carter threw 81' 3.5"'. In 2006 Carter stills holds the state and national records. In the 25 years since Carter broke Walker’s state and national records, Walker’s 68' 06" state championship throw in 1968 still ranks 5^th in Texas history behind’s Carter’s 1978 & 1979 throws and the 71' 02" by Roger Roessler of Round Rock in 1996 and the 68' 11" of Jonathan Reeves of Sugar Land Austin in 2001. Walker, Carter and Roessler are still the only Texas schoolboys to ever throw over 70 feet. The National Federation of State H.S. Associations lists Walker 3^rd on the all-time national shot put list with his 1968 mark of 72' 3&1/4 behind only Carter (at 81' 3.5") and Brent Noon of CA (75' 2" in 1990).

Sam Walker continued his career at SMU where he was a 4-time All-American in the shot finishing 2^nd (64' 7"), 4^th (64' 4"), 4^th (62' 5"), & 3^rd (63' 3") in the NCAA outdoor shot from 1971-73 and 3^rd (62' 5") in the indoor shot in 1973. He was ranked in the top ten in the U.S. in the shot put from 1970-1980 with a high of 4^th in 1975 and 1977. He had a personal college best of 66' in 1971 and a post-college best of 67' 4" at Modesto CA in 1980.

Walker made the 1976 U.S. Olympic weightlifting team and finished 9^th in the super heavyweight division at the Montreal Olympics. His best all-time lifts were 525 lbs in the bench press; 479 lbs in the clean and jerk; 690 lbs in the back squat; 340 lbs in the snatch; 590 lbs in the front squat and 507 lbs in the jerk from rack. He became only the second athlete in history to be ranked in the top ten in the world (in 1976-1979) in both the shot put and weightlifting. He was unable to try out for the 1976 U.S. Olympic track team since the trials for the weightlifting and track teams occurred on the same day in OR and PA. He had hoped to become the first U.S. man to make two U.S. summer Olympic teams since Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) in 1932 made the U.S. swimming and water polo teams. Walker chose to try out for the weightlifting team since he was ranked 2^nd in the U.S. (and ninth in the world) in that sport but only 4^th in the U.S. (& 6^th in the world) in the shot put. If he had chosen to try out for the U.S. track team he might have finished 4^th at the trials and failed to make the track team (or the weightlifting team).
Walker continued to compete thru the 1980 Olympics and was ranked 5^th in the world and 3^rd in the US in the shot put in 1980. However, he did not place in the top 3 at the U.S. Trials and was named as an alternate on the 1980 U.S. Olympic track team which was not allowed to compete in Moscow when the U.S. boycotted the Games. Walker retired in 1980 after the Olympic boycott.
Sam Horace Walker, III, was born on Aug. 15, 1950, in Dallas TX to Sam and Dolores Walker. He and his siblings (Vicki and Richard) were raised in Dallas where Sam graduated from Dallas Samuell H.S. in 1968. In 2004 Sam Walker and his wife, Lisa, lived in Dallas with their three children, Clint, Daniel, and Hannah. Over the past 25 years Sam has served as a volunteer shot put coach for several Texas boys who won the state championship (Don Randell of Dallas Sunset in 1969; Jerry Ross of Dallas Kimball in 1978; Michael Carter of Dallas Jefferson in 1977-79; and David Winkler of N. Mesquite in 1988-90). Walker was still coaching in 2004 as his son, Daniel, finished 3^rdin the shot put at the 2003 state meet as a junior and 2^nd (at 59’ 3.7) at the 2004 meet. Sam owns and operates four locations of Walker’s Barbeque in Dallas, Rowlett and Rockwall.