Those who came to know Tony Walker during his two-years on the Pearl River Community College campus in the mid-1970s, knew he would be successful in life.
A Ville Platte, La., “ragin’ Cajun,” Walker quarterbacked the Wildcat football team in 1974 and 1975 and his toughness and reckless, never-say-die attitude won the hearts of all his Pearl River teammates and fans. He was a natural born leader.
“Tony led by example,” said former teammate Tim Heldt, one of Walker’s favorite wide receivers and now head coach at Lumberton High. “He was a great leader and his work habits, toughness, and intelligence shined through. It spilled over to all the other guys.”
Starting the last three games of 1974 and all of the 1975 season, Walker’s accomplishments on the gridiron have etched his name permanently in the Wildcat football archives. Twice — in back-to-back games — during his sophomore season, he completed an astonishing 11 consecutive passes and was named his team’s “Most Valuable Back,” while earning the same honor in the annual MACJC All-Star Game. Walker was named All-State and led an offense that produced 1,353 passing yards (seventh-highest total in history) and 3,488 total yards (eighth highest). He guided The River to 571 offensive yards in 1975’s 20-6 romp over Copiah-Lincoln, which is fifth-highest in history.
Walker, who is now an assistant district attorney in his hometown, was inducted into the college's Athletics Hall of Fame during the 1999 homecoming festivites. Former Wildcat quarterback and basketball guard Dennis Wilson of Tupelo and former All-State basketball and standout baseball player Garland Parish of Sandy Hook will also be inducted.
He later founded Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasonings.
Walker arrived on the PRCC campus in August, 1974, after an outstanding athletic career at Ville Platte’s Evangeline Academy. When it came to high school sports, Tony was “all everything.” He was an All-State quarterback and defensive back on the football team, earned All-State honors and a 440-yard dash state championship in track and field, and was a standout leftfielder on EA’s baseball team.
He says he was dead set on playing football after high school, but the “10 or so” major colleges that showed interest finally concluded his 5-11, 158-pound frame was too small for their ranks.
“There were a few senior colleges that wanted me to walk-on, but two junior colleges (PRCC and Southwest) offered me full scholarships,” Walker said. “I leaned in that direction because I thought I could go play ball in Mississippi and play right away.”
Tony picked The River, mainly because of his immediate liking of then-head coach John Russell and PRCC’s superior facilities.
“I was very excited. Then Coach Russell, who recruited me, resigned one week before the start of the season,” he said. “Things started off real crazy.”
Nineteen seventy-four was a truly wild season. Not only did the head coach resign, but the season opener was delayed three weeks because of a hurricane that had ripped through south Mississippi. One opponent from the North Division was even dropped from the nine-game schedule because of the shortened season.
Second-year assistant coach Harvey Seligman was named interim head coach.
“Sure, I had hoped that I would’ve played more than I did at the start, but the coaches felt that experience went a long way and I backed-up Lee Meitzler for five games,” Walker said. “I wasn’t use to standing on the sidelines, but I knew good things would happen in time.”
His patience and hard work paid off as he wound-up taking the bulk of the snaps in the final three games. The River won the first two of those final three — 31-13 over Northeast and 37-6 over Southwest — but fell 17-13 to Hinds in the season finale. Despite finishing with a lackluster 4-4 mark, the ’74 Wildcats were still only one win away from making the playoffs.
Seligman remained on the Wildcat staff, but former assistant J.C. Arban took over in 1975 after serving three seasons (1972, 1973, 1974) as offensive coordinator at Southern Miss. Arban brought the Veer offense with which he had found much success in Hattiesburg with the Golden Eagles.
“It was a fun offense and Coach Arban knew it well,” Walker said. “He was always a kick. He would go through two plugs of chewing tobacco at every practice. He was a very intelligent coach.”
Arban’s actions in the Northeast game Walker’s sophomore season made a profound impression on the young quarterback that remains today.
“We were 5-1 and we went into that game thinking we would win it coming and going,” he said. “And we should have, but we were lucky to even win. For some reason our offense just didn’t click.”
Things started as expected. Pearl River quickly went up 14-0 in the opening quarter, but Arban’s Veer quickly stagnated and the Wildcats’ sputtering offense gave way to a Northeast surge and in the third period the Tigers had pulled within four — 14-10. In the final quarter, it took the Wildcats’ scrappy defense to salvage the win, as the inspired Tigers drove to the PRCC six before being held on downs.
“After that, we drove all the way to their one, but only seconds were left on the clock,” Walker recalled. “All us guys on the field wanted another touchdown and it would’ve been easy. But Coach Arban said ‘no.’ We killed the clock and left things as they were. I always respected him for that...that was his way of saluting Northeast for a great effort. It was a great game.”
Walker’s final season started off on a dismal note when the Wildcats blew an early 9-0 lead and East Central rebounded with a 16-9 win. Week No. 2 saw the Wildcats overcome a 6-0 halftime deficit against Mississippi Delta to take a 21-6 win.
A week later, Walker ran and passed for 207 total yards to guide the Wildcats to a 26-6 win over arch-rival Jones, but his impressive offensive show isn’t what stands out from that game. Tony Walker showed just how resilient he was as a football player.
“They (JCJC) had this big defensive end who was killing me every time on the outside option,” he said. “He was a great player and was really nailing me, but we got him one time when we sent (Rusty) Cavataio off tackle instead of off guard and blocked down on the big guy for a six-or-seven-yard gain. I stood up in his face and was laughing. He hauled off and busted me in the chin, dislocating my jaw.
“I went to the sideline and could barely speak to tell (PRCC trainer) Doc (Hudson) my left row of teeth were in the middle of my mouth. Doc initially thought it (jaw) was broken, but after wrapping his thumb in gauze and getting a couple of guys to hold me down, he stuck his thumb in my mouth, grabbed my jaw, and put it back in place.
“Doc said, ‘you’re okay...go back in.’ So I did. A minute or two later I was running down the sideline and a knee caught my jaw and it was dislocated again.”
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This time, Hudson didn’t bother with the gauze, but quickly — and painfully — put Walker’s jaw back in place for a second time in five minutes.
“Doc said, ‘you’re okay, get back in there.’ I wanted to, but Coach Arban said no. The next day I was miserable. I couldn’t eat and only barely could talk.”
But the injury had little effect on Walker’s football skills. A week later, he ran for 97 yards and passed for 157 in the Wildcats’ record-setting bashing of Copiah-Lincoln. Perk week followed and the Bulldogs took a hard-fought 36-29 win, but not without a little magic from Walker, who completed 11 straight passes at one point in the game. He is the only Wildcat player to accomplish and duplicate that feat.
“I was knocked crazy in that game. I was breaking down the sideline and cut back with a nice inside move. As soon as I made my turn...wham!...a big linebacker laid me out cold,” he recalled. “That was the hardest hit I ever took. I can only barely remember it. I just remember waking up with Doc working me over with the ammonia.”
A groggy Walker was back in the game minutes later.
The Wildcats rebounded the next game and demolished Holmes 34-0, with Walker duplicating his consecutive completion feat, then came the heart stopping squeaker against Northeast. Southwest was the next victim 35-15, then The River canned Hinds 23-7 to wrap-up the season as runners-up in the South Division.
After leaving Pearl River, football should have remained a part of Walker’s life, but a postseason trip to Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette — near Ville Platte — brought an end to his football career.
“USL had showed a little bit of interest in me out of high school, but they decided I was too small,” he said. “After I played at Pearl River, they wanted me, so I went down and they gave me the red carpet treatment, but no scholarship. They wanted me to walk-on.
“I told my dad that I was going back to The River, use my free semester of school, have a good time, and graduate. My football career was over,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t ever going to make a living as a player at it and knew I needed to get on with my life. Besides, they (USL) thought I was too small two years earlier and I was still 5-11 and was only five pounds heavier. ”
He returned to Poplarville and graduated in May, 1976, then transferred to McNeese State in Lake Charles where he earned his undergraduate degree before entering the LSU School of Law. He graduated there in 1981 and was admitted to the state bar the same year.
Walker practiced law for several years before taking an assistant district attorney’s position in 1984. The rest is history and he is now the DA office’s No. 1 assistant.
He married his high school sweetheart — Jennifer Fontenot — while a junior at McNeese and they are the parents of two boys: 18-year-old Jack, who is a premed freshman at LSU-Eunice; and 15-year-old “Joe Willie” (Joseph William), who is a sophomore at Sacred Heart High School in Ville Platte.
“Joe Willie” is named after — you guessed it — Joe Willie Namath, New York Jet quarterback legend and Walker’s football idol.
“I always knew I would name a son Joe Willie,” he said. “We named Jack after my great-granddaddy, so when the second one came around, I had no choice. Besides, “Joe Willie” fits him better...he’s the spittin’ image of me at that age.”