AHS will host Roy “Doc” Walker Relays

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April 21, 2016 – On Friday, April 22, the Texarkana Arkansas School District will host the Roy “Doc” Walker Relays. Field events begin at 3:30 p.m. with the girls’ long jump, disc, pole vault and boys’ triple jump, high jump and shot. The 3200 meter will begin at 3:45 p.m. and all other events start at 5:15 p.m. Students from Arkansas High, Camden-Fairview, El Dorado, Hall, Magnolia, Pine Bluff, Sheridan, DeQueen, Ashdown, Genoa, Gurdon, Lafayette County, Malvern, Mineral Springs, Nashville, Trinity Christian and White Settlement High School will participate in the event.

Roy “Doc” Walker was a coach in the Texarkana Arkansas School District for 35 years – 21 years at Booker T. Washington High School and 14 years at Arkansas High School. His athletic career began at the Washington High School in Texarkana, where he played offensive end and defensive back. Washington won a state championship in his senior year, 1948. At Arkansas AM&N (now UA, Pine Bluff), he played both football and baseball for three years before entering the Army for two years. He returned to AM&N after service, worked for a year as athletic trainer and assistant baseball coach, and got his degree in 1954.

Although, as an athlete he played football, basketball and baseball, he never ran track on the high school or collegiate level. However, he was best known for developing some of the best track and field talent in the state. He was the head track coach for 14 years, winning three state championships in 1978, 1979 and 1980. His 1981 team finished as the state runner-up. Walker’s goal as a coach was to prepare his teams for life after athletics, stressing his famous Three D’s – Discipline, Dedication and Desire. In 1991 Texarkana renamed its Hog Relays the Roy “Doc” Walker Relays. Walker was the first recipient of the “Honors Boulevard” in the Hobo Jungle Park in Texarkana in 2000 when it was named “Doc” Walker Boulevard 2000.

Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for students.

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