FiddySicks Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 FoxSports.com StoryNorthwestern football coach Walker dead EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Northwestern University football coach Randy Walker died of an apparent heart attack Thursday night. He was 52.Walker died after feeling chest pains around 10 p.m. at his suburban Chicago home, said Mike Wolf, the school's assistant athletic director for media services."This is a devastating loss, not only for our athletic program, but for the entire Northwestern community," athletic director Mark Murphy said in a statement early Friday. "Randy truly embraced Northwestern and its mission, and cared deeply for his student-athletes, both on and off the field."Walker was the first Northwestern coach to lead the school to three bowl games. The Wildcats lost to UCLA 50-38 in the Sun Bowl last December.In October 2004, Walker checked himself into a hospital after experiencing chest pains. He was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle; the condition is not a common ailment, and is usually caused by a virus.Walker was out of the hospital in two days, and said he was taking a new approach to his diet and work schedule."I've really taken my doctor's orders to heart, because frankly, I want to see my grandkids someday," he said at the time.Two months ago, Northwestern gave Walker a four-year extension through the 2011 season. He joined the school in 1999 after nine years at Miami of Ohio.Walker's Wildcats posted 37 wins, going 7-5 last season. He led the team to three bowl games since 2000.Northwestern shared the Big Ten title in 2000 and went to the Alamo Bowl. The Wildcats also went to the 2003 Motor City Bowl.Walker was the first Wildcats coach to guide the team to four seasons with at least six wins since C.M. Hollister in 1899-1902.He is survived by his wife, Tamara, and two children, Abbey, 28, and Jamie, 25, who is the school's football recruiting assistant. On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said: She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBear Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Stunning bad news.Reminds me of when Dave McClain died at Wisconsin as he was turning that program around; Don Morton followed and drove it backwards until Alvarez showed up. Even though I'm a Badgers fan I hope Northwestern doesn't have the same problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slassy Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 R.I.P.Northwestern can't catch a break...the craziest part is that Northwestern opens at Miami this year in football. He was always a class act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvrdgsfn Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Saw it during my break @ summer school. I was shcoked to hear this news. A lot of people are like, this is shocking but what did he do? From what I heard on ESPNEWS, he did a lot more for the footbal program than Barnett did. Sure, Barnett got Northwestern into the Rosebowl but Walker did so much, getting Northwestern into 3 bowl games. First game is against Miami(Ohio) where Walker was a coach there too. Truly a shame. He was a good coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJTank Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 R.I.P.Northwestern can't catch a break...the craziest part is that Northwestern opens at Miami this year in football. He was always a class act. Watch them find a way to win that game. www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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