While Johnny Hoists the Heisman, USA’s Youngest College QB Recalls Years of Abuse at Texas A&M

Aggies Wishbone Quarterback David Walker announces the release of ‘I’ll Tell You When You’re Good!’

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – This winter, as the sports world turned its focus to college football for the annual bowl season, Heisman trophy winner Johnny Manziel was bringing unprecedented attention to Texas A&M University where he is the star freshman quarterback. The Aggies have a long, storied history of young quarterbacks and the youngest ever has released an illuminating book, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good!: The Memoir of America’s Youngest College Quarterback.”

His story gives readers an intimate look into his upbringing, his tumultuous stay at this particular university, and the vertebral injuries later in life which inspired its publication.

The Most Explosive Book about Amateur Athletics Ever Written

David Walker grew up in the 1960s in a southwest Louisiana town where football was the most traditionally shared cultural experience. Still regarded as the most prolific left-handed passer to come out of Louisiana, he became the All-State Quarterback his senior year. Because freshmen had been declared eligible to play NCAA varsity sports the previous season, David was faced with a tough decision. He chose to run Coach Emory Bellard’s Wishbone offense at Texas A&M rather than live his dream with LSU.

At 17, in A&M’s season opener, David became the youngest quarterback to ever take a snap in a college football game. “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good!” traces the path throughout this athlete’s incredible journey, allowing his readers to experience the effort required to attain excellence while confronting unimaginable malfeasance, cover-ups and abuse by the school’s personnel. David refers to his career as  the A&M quarterback as “five seasons of Hell for myself and my family.”

“It’s a reprehensible saga and totally irrefutable,” David says. “It was extremely difficult to revisit this period of my life. There’s absolutely no detail included in this book that can be disputed. It was a very dark era in the history of college football. The NCAA still turns a blind eye to some of the issues that remain common practices, such as the blatant use of the pain-killing drug, Toradol.”

“I didn’t know needles were a part of the game until my clavicle was ripped from my sternum when we still had several big games left to play in ’74. Inconceivable acts were perpetrated by men in power upon a naive and defenseless kid for personal and institutional gain, without my parents’ knowledge or consent. They blatantly lied and misled me about the extent of my injuries before inserting the needles. It was a despicable example of winning at all costs.”

A&M QB David Walker with Coach Emory Bellard

“But this is only a portion of what occurred. It’s undoubtedly the most repugnant story ever revealed about the people involved in the college game, and it happened at Texas A&M. Because I’m the only player who felt the needle during my years at A&M, behind closed doors with the shades drawn, I’m very concerned with the public admission by A&M officials these practices that began with me have continued to present day on a much more wide-open scale,” says David.

A former algebra teacher and high school football coach, David is an extremely high-volume sports columnist for Gamedayr.com. Meanwhile, school administrators of the Texas A&M Lettermen’s Association (a “Former Players Association” for student-athletes), e-mailed David to inform him that he and his book promotions would not be tolerated at any of the association’s functions, referring to him as an “outsider.” Because of this ban David is no longer a member of the group.

His personal experiences notwithstanding, David refers to himself as “a guy who still bleeds maroon,” and has a daughter who is a recent graduate of the university. “Texas A&M was everything I hoped it would be for Carly, and this is the other message  I convey during my speaking engagements,” says David.

After self-rehabilitating his shoulder to some extent, David reclaimed his starting position to become the winningest quarterback in Texas A&M’s history by the conclusion of his career. He currently ranks second all-time in total victories. Playing in 42 of the team’s 46 games and starting in 34, David was a four-year starter and two-year team captain for the Aggies. His single-game QB rushing record of 182 yards that stood for 35 years at the school was recently broken by Manziel in the Cotton Bowl game against the Oklahoma Sooners. David called Johnny the “best quarterback in A&M history” following the SMU game, Texas A&M’s second game of the season.

Having barely survived having his neck broken in an accident, David is now an advocate for safe driving, using his role as a professional speaker to campaign against the use of phones and other mobile devices while driving.

For speaking engagements or to purchase an autographed copy of David’s book, please visit www.12thManQB.com. David will be speaking at A&M Club Musters in Waco in 2013, Louisville in 2014 and Houston in 2015, and is being inducted into his high school’s Hall of Fame in Sulphur, La. this April.

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