Marengo County Hall of Fame 2025 Class: Major Walker II
Published 5:37 pm Friday, January 10, 2025
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Major Walker II attended elementary and junior high school in Faunsdale. In 1966, he moved to Demopolis to attend U.S. Jones High School. He participated in basketball and football while lettering in both sports for the Blue Devils. Whatever he played, he always tried to give 100%. His coach used him in a motivation speech to get the team to play hard. He said, “Coming to a new school was very challenging, especially for the ones that wanted to play sports, you had better be able to hold your own.”
He feels blessed to have been able to play with good athletes through his high school career. He and his fellow teammates like the late Sam Williams (Class of 2024), Laymon Hardy, Johnny Ray Haskin, Willie Mullen, and Will Moore Jr. (Class of 2023) (that’s just to name a few) dominated teams in their area and across the state of Alabama. The U.S. Jones Blue Devils were well known among the basketball elites in the state.
Major talks with pride about when his team won the basketball game breaking Druid City High School 33-game winning streak and playing in the state tournament championship game in 1969 finishing as the runner-up that year.
After high school he enrolled in Stillman College in Tuscaloosa and found out he just couldn’t afford the financial requirement so he came back home to find a job. He worked at Bryant W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital for about a year, then decided to go to Richmond, California, where he worked at JCPenney’s for 2 years before entering the Army.
His military career began at Fort Ord, California, in 1973. After completing basic training his orders came down to go to Jump School at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was a great experience, as he had hardly flown in an Airplane let alone Jump out of one. After the third week of training, it was time to actually jump from the C130 airplane and on his third jump, he experienced a “MAYWEST” which means the parachute did not open up properly and he came down faster than everyone else. The instructors thought he was hurt, but after a series of questions, they cleared him to continue training.
Then he was sent to Fort Bragg N. C. to the 82nd Airborne Division and was placed in a Headquarters Company. His first jump was a night maneuver he didn’t train for in jump school. He decided to end my army career after three yrs because he wanted to get off jump status.
He came back home in July 1976 and immediately secured a job at Graves Distribution Company. Then he was hired at Gulf States Paper Co. for 37 years while the company changed hands two times during my tenure before he retired in 2013.
After retiring, he was hired by Marengo County Board of Education as a bus driver. When Demopolis started their own transportation, he started driving for the Demopolis City Schools and became a substitute teacher.
Also, after coming home, He got involved in the community and school sports activities such as the city’s pee-wee football league and volunteer basketball coach for the high school and junior high.
Major coached in the Demopolis City Pee Wee Football League for 17 years from 1978 to 1994.
As an assistant coach, he helped the Demopolis High School girls basketball team make their first ever appearance in the State Finals Tournament in 1999 with Coach Carlean Hooper.
He coached Middle School Girls Basketball for three years which included an undefeated season for Demopolis Middle School from 1994-1996.
Major served on the board to build the Theo Ratliff Center to help develop and promote athletics in Demopolis. He is currently the President of the Friends of Theo Ratliff Center.
In 1984, he was appointed to the Demopolis City Board of Education and serve for 10 years.
He is married to the love of his life Geraldine McClain Walker, and they have been together for 48 years. They have five children and 15 grandchildren.
He is a member of the Christian Chapel Baptist Church in Demopolis where he serves on the Deacon board and sings in the choir.