November is a great time to be a football fan, college or pro. Around this time of year the college football awards start heating up with talk of which player will get which award. By far the award with the most hype and prestige is the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the nation’s best collegiate football player, but another impressive award is the Doak Walker Award. The Doak Walker Award is given to the nation’s best collegiate running back and to be eligible a player must be in good academic standing at their school and be on track to graduate within one year of their class.

Doak Walker starred for the Southern Methodist University Mustangs as a running back, defensive back, placekicker who also sometimes managed to throw passes too. He was an All-American and won the Heisman Trophy in 1948. Walker also lettered at SMU in basketball and baseball and was named the MVP of the Cotton Bowl in 1948 and 1949.

Walker went on to make it to the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame even though his professional career lasted only six seasons. Doak Walker was voted All-Pro four times during his six year career and helped lead the Detroit Lions to two NFL Championships. He was named Rookie-of-the-Year and also led the NFL in scoring in 1950. Walker would go on to lead the league in scoring again in 1955, his last season as a professional. Walker’s career points scored totals out at 534 points, helped by the fact that in addition to being one of the best running backs in the game he also was an accomplished field goal kicker at the same time.

The Doak Walker Award was first given out in 1990 and Mr. Walker passed away in 1998. Doak Walker, one of the best the game has ever seen.