Falcons Complete Staff with Hiring of Beau Walker

A native of Aurora, Colo., Walker will oversee Air Force's sprints and hurdles program.

Oct. 9, 2014
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - The Air Force track and field team completed its coaching staff this week with the hiring of Beau Walker, head coach Ralph Lindeman announced. Walker, a native of Aurora, Colo., will oversee the Falcons' sprints and hurdles program.

"I'm thrilled to be able to return home," Walker said. "It was on this (indoor) track that I grew into the person I've become, as an athlete and as a person. I've run many races here, but I believe that my time away has groomed me to confidently accept this position."

Walker joins the Academy coaching staff after spending the past two seasons at Southern University, where she served as an assistant coach for the track and field team and head coach of the cross country program.

She was instrumental in helping the Southern men's and women's track and field teams to second-place finishes at the SWAC Championships. She coached several Jags to all-conference honors, highlighted by two conference titles (60-meter hurdles, 100-meter hurdles) and one championship-meet record (60-meter hurdles) from Tershauna Broadnax. In addition, the women's 4x100-meter relay finished first and the 4x400-meter relay took second at the conference meet, Harold Fluellen finished third in the 60-meter hurdles, Sherrelle Jordan was the team's top point-scorer, and Valerie Thames picked up a 10th-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2014 U.S. Junior Championships.

As the head coach of the Jags' cross country team, Walker helped the Southern distance runners improve their team finishes at the SWAC Championships, with the Lady Jags moving from 10th to fifth. She also coached two SWAC Athletes of the Week during the fall.

Prior to her official hire at Southern, Walker spent two years as a volunteer with the Jags' program and saw success throughout the hurdle events. During that span, Erich Seals claimed a bronze medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the SWAC Championships and a bid to the NCAA Regional Championships, while Maya Anderson finished fourth at the conference meet in the 400-meter hurdles.

"We're all excited with the addition of Beau to our staff," Lindeman said. "She's coached at our camps the past two summers, so our coaches have had a chance to work with her and we all believe that she'll be a great fit for our staff, our teams and our institution. She's a no-nonsense kind of coach with a great work ethic and she will expect the same from our cadet-athletes."

Walker had a standout collegiate career at the University of Alabama, garnering All-America honors in the 60-meter hurdles after finishing fourth at the both the 2005 and 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships. A two-time team captain, she also captured SEC Championship titles in the 60-meter hurdles (2005) and 55-meter hurdles (2006), while setting school records in the 60-meter hurdles (8.01) and 100-meter hurdles (12.95). In addition, Walker holds Alabama's second-fastest 400-meter hurdles time in Tide history (56.28) and ran on the program's fifth-fastest 4x100-meter relay squad (44.17).

As a sophomore, Walker was named the Outstanding Performer of the 2004 Drake Relays, after winning the 100- and 400-meter hurdles and anchoring two Tide relay teams to championship titles. An SEC Track Athlete of the Week following that meet, Walker was also featured in the "Track and Field News" national publication for her performance. She repeated as the Drake Relays' 400-meter hurdles champion in 2005, with a meet-record performance, and ran on the winning 4x100-meter relay.

Walker prides herself on volunteerism and advocacy. While at Alabama, she served on the Board of Directors for Lady Warriors Inc, a girls' athletic organization, and ran the "If the Shoe Fits" scholarship program, in which she personally-sponsored funding for athletic shoes for participants and winners of various academic contests through a national athletic apparel retailer. She has also assisted with various student-athlete services, including sports marketing and athlete academics, and supports women and children affected by trauma, in a curriculum sponsored by the U.S. Officer of Women's Heath.

Walker, who graduated from Alabama in 2005, holds a bachelor's degree in business marketing and a master's degree in sports management. She is Level 2 certified through USA Track and Field for sprints/hurdles/relays and endurance events, and has also completed training through the Emerging Elite program with USATF.

"There is something about being in a place serving others that are diligently working to serve the country that demands an appreciation and respect," Walker continued. "I've been asked what I want to accomplish as a coach, and I'm certain that more than any one thing or accolade, I always want to be a leader ... and what better place than the Air Force Academy, an institution grounded in leadership?"

http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/100914aab.html

Keith Conning: I was a distance runner on the U.S. Air Force Academy freshman cross country and track teams in 1960-1961. The Academy is located at 7,300 feet above sea level. The Academy opened in 1959 at the site north of Colorado Springs, Colorado. John Fer was the captain of the cross country team. He was a POW in North Vietnam for over six years.

On February 4, 1967, an EB66C was dispatched on an operational mission over
North Vietnam. The crew and technicians that day included Maj. Jack W.
Bomar, 1Lt. John O. Davies, Capt. John Fer, Capt. Russell A. Poor, Capt.
Herb Doby, and Maj. Woodrow Hoover.

At a point about 40 miles from the China border in Bac Thai Province, North
Vietnam, the EB66C was shot down. Bomar, Fer and Davies were captured. The
fates of Doby, Poor and Wilburn were uncertain.

In the spring of 1973, 591 Americans were released from prison camps in
Vietnam, including Bomar, Davies and Fer. They had been POWs for just over
six years. Poor, Doby and Wilburn remained Missing in Action.
http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/f/f007.htm

Image of Fer: http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=283