Ewell Doak Walker, Jr. was an American football player. He played college football as a halfback at Southern Methodist University (SMU). As a sophomore, he led SMU to a 1947 SWC championship and was named to a myriad of All-American teams. He gained similar All-American honors in 1948, and 1949. Walker won the Maxwell Award as a sophomore in 1947 and the Heisman Trophy in 1948 as a junior. Walker then played professionally in the National Football League with the Detroit Lions for six seasons, from 1950 to 1955.

Walker was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. The Doak Walker Award, awarded annually since 1990 to the top running back in college football, is named after him. Walker left pro football in 1955 to concentrate on his private business interests in sporting goods and as a sales executive with an electrical contracting company. He later founded Walker Chemicals in Denver, a company he sold upon retirement. In 2007, Walker was ranked #4 on ESPN’s list of the top 25 players in college football history.