Longtime Texas high school and club swim coach Bill Walker died last month at the age of 86.
Walker spent time coaching at clubs and high schools across southern Texas. Walker coached AAU and high school teams in Harlingen, Texas in the late-1960s, breaking into the coaching realm in small town. In 1970, he took over San Antonio’s North East Indepenent School District’s head swim coaching job, and later that decade, he moved to McAllen, Texas, where he was the head coach at McAllen Swim Club and McAllen High School.
Walker eventually returned to San Antonio in the 1980s and led the North East Indepenent School District as aquatics coordinator through his 2001 retirement. Along the way, Walker was twice named Texas Girls High School Coach of the Year and his teams won 9 high school state championships in Texas.
Walker was inducted into the Texas Swimming Hall of Fame in 2013. He remained one of the most influential swimming figures in Texas.
The Bill Walker pool at the San Antonio North East Indepenent School District was named in his honor in 2005 and the long course pool still bears his name. Walker died on January 7, 2021 and is survived by his wife, Karen. They were married for 33 years. You can read a full obituary here.
A legend in Texas Swimming.
He didn’t die this week. He passed the week the pro series was at his pool! RIP