On Jimmy Walker's Well-Deserved Place in the College Basketball Hall of Fame

Friar Basketball's Craig Leighton reflects on Walker and his impact on the game.

Finally, Friar great Jimmy Walker (class of 1967) will be inducted in the College Basketball Hall of Fame on November 21-22. Walker will be inducted along with former players Richard Hamilton (Connecticut), Larry Miller (North Carolina), and Frank Selvy (Furman) in a ceremony in Kansas City, MO. Former coaches being inducted include John Beilein, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, and Jerry Krause.

Walker joins Providence legends Dave Gavitt and Ernie DiGregorio as inductees into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

This is great news! The one question I have: What on Earth took the committee so long?

Jimmy Walker was one of those transcendental college players whose game was so special that he was already an all-time great before ever playing a professional game. 

Even though he had a very solid 11 year NBA career, his pro game never quite matched the level of his college excellence — similar to former college all-timers like David Thompson (North Carolina State) and Ralph Sampson (Virginia). What is dissimilar to Thompson and Sampson, however, is that they did not have to wait 55 years to get into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Walker was great from the first day he set foot on the PC campus. During his first year, he led his PC freshmen team to an undefeated season. In his sophomore year he was the best player on the Friars’ Elite Eight club. That Providence team was ranked as high as third in the nation by the Associated Press.

Despite losing center Dexter Westbrook to academic difficulties the following year, PC once again went to the NCAA Tournament when Walker was a junior. The Friars had to settle for an NIT bid during Walker's senior year (despite being ranked in the AP top 10 for six weeks), but he had an incredible individual season, leading the nation in scoring by averaging over 30 points a game. 

For his career, Walker averaged over 25 points per game in college, and the Friars were ranked in the top 10 nationally in each of his three seasons — but that only begins to tell the story of Jimmy Walker's game.

He was one of the first modern day guards during an era where many players and teams were playing 1950s-type basketball. Walker was virtually unguardable one-on-one, and he was the first player in college or the pros to put the ball between his legs while dribbling. 

Walker is still the third leading scorer in PC history despite the fact that he could only play three years due to freshmen being ineligible to play with the varsity club. We can only guess what his numbers would have looked like with a 3-point line.

Walker was the first overall pick in the 1967 NBA draft, selected ahead of Hall of Fame guards Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe. They may have turned out to be better NBA players, but Walker was simply better than both in college. He was the only one of the three that was a Consensus 1st Team All American his senior season.

During a solid 11-year NBA career he averaged over 16 points a game, and was named to two NBA All-Star games. He and fellow Friar Lenny Wilkens were named to the 1970 All Star game, marking the only time two Providence players were honored in the same season.

Jimmy Walker is now going to be in the College Basketball Hall of Fame — an accolade that is long overdue. 

PC fans now need two more accolades to happen which are also overdue. Coach Joe Mullaney also must be inducted in the College Basketball Hall of Fame, and Mike Riordan should see his number raised to the rafters at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

In the meantime, we get to celebrate the greatness of Jimmy Walker — and what he meant to Providence basketball — once again in November.