Peahead Walker

Douglas Clyde "Peahead" Walker (February 17, 1899 – July 16, 1970) was an American gridiron football coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and of the Montreal Alouettes as well as a minor league baseball player and coach.

Early life
Walker was born on February 17, 1899 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Baseball
Walker played eleven seasons of minor league baseball. He was primarily a shortstop, but also played second base and third base. He had a career .300 batting average and 30 home runs.

From 1937 to 1939 he managed the Snow Hill Billies of the Class D Coastal Plain League.

Football
Walker's coaching career began in 1926 at Atlantic Christian College, Wilson, North Carolina, (today known as Barton College) where he also played professional baseball for the Wilson Bugs of the Virginia League. In his one year as head football coach, Walker was 6-1-1 and his "Little Christians" (later, "Bulldogs") were scored upon only once. He also had success with the Atlantic Christian basketball and baseball teams.

Next, in 1927, Walker accepted the position of head coach of all three major teams at Elon College (now Elon University) near Burlington, North Carolina. He coached at Elon for ten seasons, earning a 45-40-4 record and winning four North State Conference Championships.

Walker coached at Wake Forest from 1937 to 1950. Focusing on recruiting, blocking, tackling, kicking, discipline, strength, and conditioning he established a brilliant coaching career at WFU. He compiled a record of 77-51-6 during his fourteen year at the school and led the Deacons to two bowl games, a win over South Carolina in the 1946 inaugural Gator Bowl and a 20-7 loss to Baylor in the 1949 Dixie Bowl. He is the school's winningest head coach.

After quiting Wake Forest, Walker sought a higher paying job and joined longtime friend and former assistant Herman Hickman at Yale. After one year at Yale, he replaced the retiring Lew Hayman as the second head coach of the CFL's Montreal Alouettes. There he had a 59-48-1 record in eight seasons and won four division titles before retiring after 1959 season. After his retirement he became a scout for the New York Giants. He was elected into the Wake Forest Athletics Hall of Fame after his death in 1971.

Later life and death
One of Walker's longtime friends was Arnold Palmer, who Walker tried to recruit to his football team while Palmer was at Wake Forest.

Walker died on July 16, 1970 in Charlotte, North Carolina.