Dale Walker is a native of Bellbrook, Ohio and the son of Martha and Jack Walker. He graduated from Bellbrook High School as a celebrated Ohio high school high jump State Champion in 1964 (tied and finished 2nd decided by a coin flip), 1965, and 1966 and he set the state high jump event and established a new record at the Ohio State Classic Championships (all divisions represented). He was selected to participate in the Golden West High School All-American meet representing the top eight athletes nationally in each event.
Morehead State University in Kentucky signed Walker to a track and field scholarship in 1966 where he set the school's high jump record during his freshman year before being inducted into the U.S. Army.
Dale Walker came to Cumberland College, now the University of the Cumberlands, in February 1969, as one of the first recruits under Gordon bocock, Cumberland's newly hired head coach of the Track and Field Program.
Walker had recentlly been released form the U.S. Army where he participated with the Army's running program, and had won the HIgh Jump Championship at the All Army Meet in Fort Riley, Kansas in 1968. Later that year he was High Jump Champion at the All European Championships for the Armed Services in Nurnberg, Germany. He was contacted by Coach Bocock and several friends who were running for Cumberland at the time. Together they were able to convince Walker that Cumberland would be a great place to continue hsi athletic and academic career. The decision was fruitful and the friendships remain intact today.
During the 1969 season at Cumberland, Walker made an immediate impact by setting school records in both indoor and outdoor high jump events with a mark of 6'6". This mark also set a new KIAC record in high jump. Under Coach Bocock's leadership and instruction, Walker began making great srides in other track and field events, sometimes competing in as many as 7 to 9 events per meet.
However, early the following season 1969-70, a serious injury along with family responsibilities forced Walker to miss both the indoor and outdoor seasons for the first time in his career.
In 1970-71 he returned to set a new Cumberland indoor school record of 6'8 1/2" that was enough to win the high jump at University of Tennessee's Volunteer Classic meet. The effort led to a 5th place finish in the NAIA National Indoor Championship allowing him to become the first Cumberland track athlete to score in an indoor national meet. Later that season, he would set the high jump outdoor mark for a Cumberland school record and added the 400 IM hurdles school mark to his building credits. It was the same season that Walker would establish himself as a multi-event performer by scoring 67 points to lead Cumberland to a KIAC Conference Championship meet by winning in the high jump, 120 meter hurdles, 400 meter hurdles, and the mile relay. He went on to score 62 1/2 point with three First Place finishes, three Second Place finishes, one Third Place finish and helped his teammates win the mile relay at the NAIA District 24 Track Meet. Walker finished 6th at the NAIA National Track & Field Championships in the high jump. He was named the Track Team's Most Valuable Athlete and NAIA District 24 Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
In the 1971-72 season, Walker set a new indoor school high jump record at 6'9" by winning the Volunteer Class for the second straight year. The record jump was second best in the NAIA leading to his 3rd Place finish in the NAIA National Indoor meet and becoming Cumberland's first National All-American in Track & Field. He went on to set the school's outdoor high jump mark at 6'10" and the 400 IM hurdles at 55.2. Now, 37 years later, Walker still holds Cumberland's indoor high hum record at 6'9" and the record for outdoor 400 IM hurdle at 55.2.
He closed out his Cumberlad career with a 4th Place finish at the NAIA National Outdoor Meet and was named to the NAIA's Distinguished Athletes Club in 1972 and was included in the 1972 edition of the Outstanding College Athletes of America Hall of Fame.
Dale Walker was graduated from Cumberland College in 1972 and went on to earn a Master of Arts Degree in Education from Wright State University. Following several years of teaching high school and coaching at Sugarcreek Schools in Bellbrook, Walker coached women's track and cross country at University of Dayton. He later returned to Cumberland as Head Volleyball Coach and Assistant Track and Field Caoch before moving back to Ohio.
Walker is married to the former Patricia Collins, a 1972 Cumberlands alumna. They live in Bellbrook, Ohio and have three daughters, Deena, Denise, and Laura along with five grandchildren. Laura is a 2000 graudate of Cumberland having lettered in both track and field as well as volleyball. Dale Walker is Assistant Vice President for KeyCorp National Bank's Community Banking Division in Bellbrook.
