DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With just 16 days to go in the “24kCountdown to Kickoff”, every Thursday BCUathletics.com reaches back to find a former football player that illustrates the rich history of Wildcats football. It is Throwback Thursday, or #BCUTBT, and it features a small recap of that individual's time in the Maroon and Gold.
As Isidore Jackson begins his senior season on the cusp of becoming Bethune-Cookman's all-time leading rusher, for this Throwback Thursday (#BCUTBT), we take a look a one of the greatest running backs in Wildcat history, Randy “Sweetback” Walker.
Walker and roommate Wayne Allen combined to be one of the most prolific running back tandems in all of college football back in the 1970s, as they led the Wildcats to a 1973 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship, and the program's first victory over Florida A&M since the days of Jack "Cy" McClairen.
Walker's 1972 total of 1,142 yards still stands as the Wildcats' single-season rushing record. His career total of 2,429 yards stood for a quarter of a century until Pa'Tell Troutman (2,839) and Allen Suber (2,897) surpassed it in recent years. But remember, Troutman and Suber were quarterbacks in the famed “Wyattbone” offense designed to make a nimble quarterback prosper.
In one of the greatest single-game displays of rushing, Walker gained 229 yards and scored five touchdowns in a 75-23 rout of Savannah State in 1973. His single-game high was 235 yards against Morris Brown in a 1972 season in which he posted six 100-yard games.
He was named All-SIAC twice as well as All-American and was even considered a potential Heisman Trophy candidate in the same breath as the legendary Walter Payton, who was playing at Jackson State while Walker was at Bethune-Cookman. In fact, the two were friends, rooming together at an All-American banquet in Dallas and facing each other when the teams played from 1972-1974.
After Bethune-Cookman, Walker signed with the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts, but suffered a leg injury during his rookie season. The St. Louis Cardinals drafted him in the 10th round in 1976, but he never saw regular season action.
Walker passed away in 2011 at the age of 59.
Jackson (2,449 yards) overtook Walker for third on the all-time rushing list at the end of last season and needs just 458 yards to pass Suber.
THURSDAY: #BCUTBT…
Throwback Thursday has taken over Twitter and Instagram throughout the last year. Now, we invite you to take a stroll down memory lane with B-CU Athletics as we flip through pictures from over 80 years of Wildcats football. We will also tweet out pictures, videos, stories and more of great Wildcats football moments from the past. While we send out some of our favorite memories, we want to hear from you and we'll share those with the B-CU online community!
Please use the hashtag #BCUTBT when submitting your throwback memories through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Be sure to interact with us on all social media channels. Fans are encouraged to follow @BCUathletics on Twitter, @BCUathletics on Instagram, and “Like” BCUathletics on Facebook to enter their daily submissions for participation. Fans should also follow BCUathletics on Pinterest for that special tailgating recipe yet to be discovered by the rest of the world.
In addition, Bethune-Cookman recently announced the official social media directory for the department of athletics. CLICK HERE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORY. All 17 sports teams at Bethune-Cookman have a unique twitter handle, and fans are encouraged to follow the student-athletes and coaches of those teams as each will have special tweets, photos and information unique to that program.
Bethune-Cookman is #NeverSatisfied.
-www.BCUathletics.com-
