Larry Walker: The man born to walk
CALABASAS, Calif. (BVM) – Larry Walker’s racewalking career shows that one must truly work smarter, and not harder, to find success.
Walker is not your typical Olympic athlete. As a child, he never dreamed of becoming a decorated racewalker. He never won any youth or junior championships for the sport. In fact, he never even trained for it in his early years.
Instead, Walker was a part of both his high school and college track and field teams. Just as he had used up all of his college eligibility for track, his teammate Terry Supple suggested he give racewalking a try. Though Walker easily beat Supple in their track events, he lost to Supple the first time they racewalked together. After that first race, however, Walker never lost to Supple again.
About a year later, in 1966, after much training and some mentorship from Ron Laird, Walker made it to his first of six Olympic trials. The 20km race took place in Colorado, where the altitude was high and the air was dry. Though Walker did well that race, he did not qualify for the team. He took note, however, of how the environment affected his competitors.
He continued to train when he had time between starting a family, teaching chemistry and coaching the cross-country team at Notre Dame High School. It was at his second Olympic trial that he realized his lifestyle was much different from his competitors.
“I was the only one there who was employed and had a family,” Walker stated with a laugh. “Seeing my family came first as well as my teaching, so I decided to train as well as I can with the time I have.”
He trained by running with the students on his cross-country team, who encouraged him and pushed him to do better. Sometimes, he would even playfully race the best members of the team. But for the most part, Walker did most of his training on his own, working out in the afternoon after teaching.
Eventually, his years of training paid off. He qualified for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, which he recalls being quite the experience. The stadium was one of the largest he had seen, and he still remembers the butterflies fluttering in his stomach as he lined up to start the race.
He ended the 20km race with a time of 1 hour, 34 minutes, and 19 seconds, placing him at 2nd of the Americans and 22nd overall. Walker joked that it took him so long to cross the finish line that Daniel Bautista, the man who took the gold medal home, had enough time to drink a cup of coffee and take a nap after he had finished, before Walker could join him.
Four years later, he qualified for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Russia. That year, the United States led a boycott of the Olympics due to Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. Walker instead got to travel elsewhere in Europe to compete. While in Europe, a member of the press asked Walker, among other athletes how they felt about the boycott. Of all 22 athletes who were asked, only one of them was in favor of it.
Walker was that one.
“It was the right thing to do,” Walker believes, despite all his training.
In lieu of the Olympic games, members of Team USA got to enjoy a fried chicken dinner with President Carter. Walker remembers it as an enjoyable day and he even got to have his wife by his side.
Following that, Walker continued to racewalk competitively up until about 10 years ago. His best memories in racewalking came from the races where he beat his opponents through outsmarting them rather than outwalking them.
In 1978, Walker took a trip to the National Sports Festival, which was sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee. That year, it was hosted in Colorado, where he had competed in his first Olympic trial. It was very windy, and the race was about 7,000 feet above sea level. Walker knew that at that altitude, going too fast at the start would make any racewalker burn out. He watched as his opponents zoomed past him and he found himself in last place after the second kilometer.
But he trusted the process.
He passed three players, who only lasted about three kilometers before their bodies gave out. As he approached more of his competitors, Walker felt more confident, and wanted to pass them as well. He knew, however, that it would be more beneficial in the long run to use them to break the wind. At around the halfway mark, most of the racers began to tire out. In the end, Walker finished in second place, trailing the leader by just 18 seconds.
Now, Walker has mostly retired from both racewalking as well as teaching, though he still teaches once a month at UCLA for the AP readiness program. He still keeps his body young by walking 40 miles or biking 80 miles a week. In the extra time he has found in retirement, Walker likes to go fishing, call his friends, and spend time with his wife.
Walker is a very positive man who has been successful in so many sectors of his life. He says that his keys to success include his connection to his religion, approaching problems with creativity, being well balanced and having a sense of humor.
“I worry about people who don’t have a sense of humor, who don’t laugh,” Walker ended with a chuckle.
