Herschel WALKER

Herschel Walker is best known for his football exploits. He starred as a running back at the University of Georgia, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1982. Walker would later be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. Walker played professional football, originally for the New Jersey Generals of the US Football League, playing there for three years (1983-85) but later moved to the NFL where he started with the Dallas Cowboys. But in 1989 he was traded to the Minnesota Vikings, who gave up five players and six draft choices for him. He later played for the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. In the NFL Walker recorded 8,225 rushing yards, 4,859 receiving yards, and 5,084 kickoff-return yards. Adding in his numbers from the USFL he had 13,787 rushing yards which would place him in the top 10 among all-time NFL running backs. Despite missing time because of the USFL career, he is still ranked in the top 10 all-time in the NFL in all-purpose yardage gained.

Walker was known for his training regimen and his physical fitness. It did not include lifting weights, but he would often do 1,500 push-ups and 2,500 sit-ups daily. He also competed as a track athlete at Georgia, running 100 metres in 10.22 and in high school was Georgia State Champion as a sprinter and discus thrower. In 2007 Walker announced that he was going to begin a career in mixed martial arts with his first professional competition due to occur in 2010. His US Olympic bobsled appearance was a sidelight of an otherwise stellar sports and athletic career. He was recruited to compete in the sport because of his speed and strength which made him an excellent pusher.