Herschel Walker, the former NFL running back, just won his second MMA fight — at the age of 48. For comparison, the life expectancy of an NFL player is just 55 years.
I’d forgotten, by the way, that he wasn’t simply an NFL player. After three years as an All-American at the University of Georgia, he left early to join the short-lived USFL — which didn’t share the NFL’s restriction on turning pro early.
Anyway, Walker’s an interesting fellow:
Walker is a born-again Christian. He made a guest appearance on The Hour of Power, hosted by televangelist Robert Schuller. He has a fifth-degree black belt in tae kwon do and nearly made the Olympic team in the sprint relay. He competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics in two-man bobsled, finishing seventh. In 1988, while still a player for the Dallas Cowboys, he danced with the Fort Worth Ballet for a single performance.
He ran the 100 meters in 10.22 seconds and the 100 yards in 9.3 seconds. He won back-to-back American Superstars competitions in 1987 and 1988. Walker stated in an in-studio interview during BaD Radio on August 23, 2010 that he still performs 3,500 sit-ups and 1,000 push ups every day. He has been going through this same routine since high school. Walker has said that he only eats once a day.
In his 2008 autobiography Breaking Free, Walker revealed that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as “multiple personality disorder”. He claimed that due to his disorder, he cannot remember the season he won the Heisman Trophy, let alone the moment. He also claimed that during one episode, he had held a gun to his own head. He stated he did not ever remember doing this. He is getting help for this condition and feels he has recovered by gaining back control.
He was a contestant in the third season of the Donald Trump reality television show Celebrity Apprentice.
From his recent MMA bout, you would never guess he had a background in TKD. He threw a punch, picked up and tossed down his opponent, then pounded him on the ground.