In the early 1980s, Shea Walker, a class member of the 2022 Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, was a dynamic wide receiver at Port Arthur Jefferson. He went on to play for two Southwest Conference Championship teams at Texas A&M. Since the mid-1990s, he has been a colorful commentator on the Texas High School football championship game.
In some form or fashion, Walker has been around Texas high school football for nearly five decades. Because he played in an era before things like position-specific camps and 7-on-7 tournaments, being selected for the Hall of Fame is particularly satisfying.
“It’s polite, and I’m excited,” said Walker, who now lives at The Woodland “It simply came to our notice then. At that time, many teams like us were not throwing a football around the yard. ”
In high school, Shea Walker earned first-team all-state recognition for Port Arthur Jefferson, who was the District 22-5A Offensive Player of the Year and the Houston Chronicle Super 60 Player of the Year. In his junior season, Jefferson lost to Odessa Permian 28-19 in the Class 5A (highest class at the time) state championship game.
Calling the High School Football Championship for Fox Sports and Bally Sports, Walker must have seen the game – and all the paganism that accompanies it – have changed in some way. When it comes to hiring, for example, he had no cell phones and no social media when he arrived.
There are some guys and teams I see doing state championship games, “he said,” and they’re doing warm-up drills like us. We were doing something special 40 years ago, and you still see boys doing the same pass-catching and hand-eye combination things.
Walker’s day job involved providing services for the municipal utility district, but his lunar lighting – partnering with Craig Way, John Heineke, and others on television for the football state championship – remained a single thrill, he said.
“I love it,” he said. “It’s a treat to be a part of that broadcast.”
Bally Sports has honored Dave Campbell, longtime editor of Texas Football Magazine, during the 2021 All-State Championship Games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Walker said he would cherish and remember it for a long time.
“It was from the heart,” he said. “Key is an icon.”
In addition to being proud to represent a different era, Walker is also proud to represent the Beaumont-Orange-Port Arthur region of Texas, in part known as the “Golden Triangle.”
Shea Walker has been married to his wife, Laurie, for 30 years. He has two older daughters, Eli and Erin. Eli is a CPA and Erin is a registered nurse.
The annual induction feast of the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame is scheduled for Saturday at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
