Former President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that Herschel Walker will run for U.S. Senate in Georgia has lit up social media in much the same way the legendary UGA star used to light up scoreboards in his college gridiron days.
Walker is rumored to be mulling a challenge Democrat Raphael Warnock, who ousted Republican Kelly Loeffler in a special election runoff this past January, and is now up for reelection himself in 2022.
In 2014, Walker appeared in a commercial paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supporting Georgia’s Jack Kingston in his 2014 Senate bid.
In 2018, Walker endorsed Brian Kemp, then secretary of state, in his ultimately successful gubernatorial campaign.
Walker supported Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
In 2018, Trump appointed Walker to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.
In 2020, Walker endorsed Loeffler, serving as an honorary co-chair of her campaign.
Walker attended Johnson County High School in Wrightsville, where he played football, basketball, and competed in track. He was awarded the inaugural Dial Award as 1979 national high school scholar-athlete of the year.
Walker is a former three-time All American college football player, and is widely regarded to be among the best to ever play on the gridiron. As a University of Georgia running back, he played three years for legendary UGA coach Vince Dooly, and won the 1982 Heisman Trophy. He is the only player in NCAA history to finish in the top three in Heisman voting in all three of his collegiate seasons.
In 1981, he played a major role in helping Georgia achieve an undefeated record and win the national championship with a victory over Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl.
In 1983, Walker stunned UGA fans when he signed a contract with the New Jersey Generals of the upstart United States Football League. NFL rules at the time prohibited athletes from turning professional after their junior year.
The Generals were owned at the time by Oklahoma oil tycoon J. Walter Duncan, who sold the team one year later to Trump.
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