Herschel Walker was born on March 3, 1962, in Wrightsville, Georgia. He was born to Willis and Christine Walker and was one of the seven siblings. Walker attended Johnson County High School in Wrightsville. As a child, Walker showed little interest in sports rather he preferred reading books and writing poetry. In high school, Walker developed an interest in sports and played football, basketball and competed in track. In high school he played for the for the Johnson County Trojans High School Football team from 1976 to 1979. He helped the Trojans to win their first state championship. In 1979, he was awarded the first Dial Award.

Walker attended University of Georgia where he was a three time All-American and winner of the Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award. He set an NCAA freshman rushing record and helped win the national collegiate football title. He set 10 NCAA records, 15 Southeast Conference records, 30 Georgia all-time records.

In 1983, Walker joined the United States Football League, where he intended to go professional before graduating.  He signed with the New Jersey Generals which was owned by Oklahoma oil tycoon J. Walter Duncan, who later sold the team to Donald Trump. Walker won the USFL rushing title in 1983. While being a part of USFL, Walker had 5,562 yards rushing in 1,143 carries, averaging 4.87 yards. In 1985, The Dallas Cowboys acquired Walker’s National Football League rights by drafting him in the fifth round of the 1985 NFL Draft. He became the first backfield tandem in NFL history during the first two years. Walker had NFL career highs of 1,514 rushing yards and 505 receiving yards, which made him become a one-man offense and became the premier NFL running back in 1988. Walker became the 10th Player in NFL history to amass more than 2000 combined rushing and receiving yards, during which he achieved two consecutive Pro Bowls.

In 1989, he was traded to the Minnesota Vikings by the Cowboys in exchange of five players. This became a good turning point for the Cowboys. Minnesota Vikings