Wade Walker Wade Hampton Walker ( November 29 , 1923 – December 18 , 2013 ) was an American football player , coach , and college athletics administrator . He played college football as a tackle at the University of Oklahoma under head coaches Jim Tatum and Bud Wilkinson . Walker was named an all - conference player all four years and a first - team All - American in 1949 . He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State for six seasons , from 1956 to 1961 , and compiled a 22 – 32 – 2 record . He also served as the athletic director at Mississippi State and Oklahoma . College career . Walker was born in Mocksville , North Carolina , and attended college at the University of Oklahoma . He played for the Oklahoma Sooners football team as a tackle from 1946 to 1949 , and he served as the team captain for two seasons . Walker was part of the 1946 recruiting class — brought to Norman by one - year head coach Jim Tatum — that included nine future All - Americans . In 1947 , Tatum ' s former assistant Bud Wilkinson had taken over as head coach but by midseason the team was struggling with a 2 – 2 record . In an effort to evoke player leadership , he told the team to elect two co - captains to serve the remainder of the season , and they chose Walker and the previous season ' s honor captain , Jim Tyree . In 1948 , the International News Service named Walker as the right tackle on its All - Midlands team . In 1949 , Walker was named a first - team All - American by the Associated Press , American Football Coaches Association ( as a guard ) , Football Writers Association of America , and Newspaper Enterprise Association . He is one of just three Sooners to have been named an all - conference player each of his four years . In " 47 Straight : The Wilkinson Era at Oklahoma " , author Harold Keith describes Walker as a " finesse player " who eschewed hip pads and wore low - top backfield shoes to reduce the weight of his equipment . Teammate and fellow All - American Stan West said of Walker : " I had the reputation of being the laziest man of all in our calisthenics drills , but I was chain lightning compared to him . ' Lord , ' Wade used to say , ' you get warm enough out here anyhow . ' " In the 1947 NFL Draft , Walker was selected in the 22nd round as the 201st overall pick by the Chicago Cardinals . Coaching and administrative career . In 1950 , Walker worked as an assistant football coach at NC State . The following year , Walker served as an assistant football coach with the Texas Tech Red Raiders from 1951 to 1953 prior to his arrival at Mississippi State . Walker was an assistant coach with the Bulldogs from 1954 to 1955 before serving as Mississippi State ' s head football coach and athletic director from 1956 to 1961 . Walker compiled a 22 – 32 – 2 record over his 6 season tenure . The Mississippi State Maroons ( now known as the Bulldogs ) posted a lackluster 2 – 7 – 1 record in 1959 . The following year , Walker ' s team improved to 5 – 5 , but students and alumni demanded his ouster . University president Dean W . Colvard relented and fired Walker as football coach , but kept him on as athletic director . In 1963 , the Mississippi State basketball team won the Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament . They were set to face Loyola of Chicago , an integrated school , but Mississippi state schools had an unwritten prohibition against playing teams with black players . In violation of a court injunction that prohibited the team from leaving the state , Colvard ordered the athletic department staff , including Walker and head basketball coach Babe McCarthy , across state lines to Nashville , Tennessee . An assistant coach smuggled the team out of the state from a private airfield , and they met Walker and the rest of the staff before flying to Michigan to play Loyola . Mississippi State lost , 61 – 51 , but returned home without further incident . Walker said , " There I was , acting like a fugitive and running from the law because I was doing something I believed was right . " Mississippi State football fared poorly again in 1966 , and Walker and his replacement as head football coach , Paul E . Davis , both resigned . Walker returned to Oklahoma in 1971 to become the school ' s athletic director , and he served in that position until 1986 . Later life and death . In 1987 , Walker had moved to La Quinta , California and was working for the Landmark Land Company . Walker died at his home in California on December 18 , 2013 .