Biography: Herschel Walker
All-American Football Player

Herschel Walker was born in Augusta, Georgia and grew up outside of Wrightsville, Georgia. For the first eleven years of his life, Herschel Walker showed little interest in sports; he preferred reading books and writing poetry. At age 12, however, he began a crash exercise program. Over the next year, he did 100,000 push-ups, 100,000 sit-ups and sprinted thousands of miles.

In high school, Walker played football and basketball and competed in track and field. He scored a record-breaking 86 touchdowns as a running back and led his teams to state championships in both football and track, while maintaining an A average.

Herschel Walker participated in the 1980 Academy of Achievement program as the valedictorian of his class and the most sought-after high school football player in the nation.

At the University of Georgia, Walker set an NCAA freshman rushing record and helped capture the national collegiate football title. He earned consensus All-American honors three consecutive years, set 10 NCAA records, 15 Southeast Conference records, 30 Georgia all-time records, and capped a sensational college career by earning the 1982 Heisman Trophy in his junior year.

In 1983, Walker gave up his final year of collegiate eligibility and turned professional, joining the New Jersey Generals of the short-lived United States Football League. Walker dominated the league, earning Most Valuable Player honors and setting the single-season pro football rushing record (2411 yards). After his first pro season, he finished his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Georgia.

Walker joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1986, where he led the entire NFL in rushing and earned All-Pro honors. Walker moved to the Minnesota Vikings as starting running back in 1989. In 1992, he joined the Philadelphia Eagles football team, but returned to the Dallas Cowboys in 1996. He retired from the NFL in 1997. Walker was one of the top running backs in the pros, gaining more yards than anyone in professional football history, counting his seasons in both the NFL and USFL. He finished his professional career with with a total of 8,225 yards and 61 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 512 passes for 4,859 yards and 21 scores.

Herschel Walker has worked with numerous charitable and educational organizations. In 1981, he became the first Academy of Achievement honor student to return to the annual program as a recipient of the Golden Plate Award. In 2002 he was voted into the Collegiate Football Hall of Fame, and was selected as the second greatest player in college football history, just behind the legendary Red Grange.

In a 2008 memoir, Breaking Free, Herschel Walker revealed that he had suffered for many years from dissociative identity disorder, a mental illness previously known as multiple personality disorder. Some of Walker's alternative personalities, which came to the fore after he retired from professional football, expressed a turbulent, angry side of his nature he had previously suppressed. On occasion, he threatened his wife and others with physical violence, but later had no recollection of these events. As related in his memoir, he eventually recognized the nature of his problem, which may have been rooted in his childhood experience of bullying and ostracism, and sought professional treatment. With psychotherapy, the disorder can be treated, and Walker decided to make his affliction public, to advance understanding of the disorder and encourage others so afflicted to find the help they need.