Hall of Fame
When Keith Walker ‘85 put up a shot, Head Coach Larry Costello and the rest of the Pioneers knew there was a favorable chance the scoreboard was about to register two more points for Utica College’s Division I men’s basketball program. It’s not that Walker took the most shots on the team, it’s that he always played within himself, and because of that he is the only UC basketball player ever to grace the NCAA Division I record books.
As the team’s Most Valuable Player in his senior year, the Philadelphia native singlehandedly propelled the Pioneers into the national spotlight by leading the entire country in field goal percentage. Walker shot 71.3% (154-for-215) in his senior campaign, and to this day he ranks third all-time in the Division I record book. In that same year, Walker also netted a game-high 22 points against Syracuse University under the pressure and expectations set by a raucous Carrier Dome crowd. He led the Pioneers to a stunning 69-61 upset victory at home against Canisius, and added a career-best 30-point effort at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Walker, a 6-foot-5 low post threat, was part of the College’s first-ever Division I recruiting class, and his passion, alongside the likes of fellow Pioneer Hall of Famer DJ Carstensen and co-captain Wallace Williams, put the Pioneers on the map in the enormous world of Division I basketball. Walker helped transform the club into a winner in just four short years. During his time at UC he guided the Pioneers to 41 victories, 37 of which came in his final three seasons. In his senior campaign, the Pioneers won a then-best 15 games, including two victories against eventual postseason teams.
To this day, he ranks seventh on the College’s all-time list with 487 career rebounds, and he is one of 12 players in school-history to score 1,000 points in a career. Included in this impressive basketball resume is a place atop the College’s all-time career field goal percentage list, having shot 62.8% (429-of-681) from the floor over the course of four seasons (99 games).
In his junior campaign, he ranked second on the team, behind Carstenson, with an average of 12.6 points per contest, and averaged 5.6 rebounds per game. In that same season he propelled the Pioneers to a thrilling 60-58 victory over St. Francis after knocking down a hook shot with just two ticks left on the game clock.
As a senior on the extremely competitive Philadelphia High School basketball scene, Walker led Benjamin Franklin to a city public school championship, while averaging16.3 points per contest en route to earning All-State accolades.
Keith resides in Bear, Delaware with his wife Kimberly and daughters Aja and Ebony, as well as his son Nicholas. He is a counselor and teacher at Glen Mills School, where he teaches writing skills. He graduated from Utica with a degree in communications.
