Former Arrow Dontae Walker was one of the best ever for CHS
By Guest Columnist Danny C. Davis
Dontae Walker, CHS #3, pictured in action at a Clinton High School football game in 1998.
Former Clinton Arrow and Mississippi State running back Dontae Walker sadly passed away December 27, 2024 at the young age of 44, after a short illness.
Walker starred at Clinton from 1996-99, during which time he broke all the Arrow football offensive records dating back to the team’s beginning in 1920.
His record-setting rushing and touchdown records wearing the red helmet with the Arrow on the side of it and the red jersey for head coach David Bradberry spanned 34 games.
He scored 76 touchdowns and rushed 5,153 yards, averaging right at nine yards a carry.
I have seen some great running backs in my over fifty years of covering high school football as a sports writer, radio announcer and public address announcer.
Growing up in Columbia, Mississippi, I graduated with Walter Payton, arguably one of the best running backs ever to play in the NFL. At Columbia High School, I covered the Wildcats the only year we had Payton, 1970, and I had never ever seen such a running back.
Twenty-five years would pass before I saw in person another running back that reminded me of Walter Payton.
I remember vividly the first time I ever saw Dontae Walker play football. It was October of 1995, and Clinton Junior High was playing Brookhaven at Roy Burkett Field. I had heard about Walker and announced the game and covered it for the then-Clinton News.
As I remember the game, Brookhaven had jumped to a large lead, something in the area of 21-0.
Junior high football has only eight-minute quarters, so neither team has very many possessions in a 32-minute junior high game. What happened next was something I had never seen before and have never seen since. Walker entered the game and ripped off six straight touchdowns, taking Clinton Junior High to a 42-21 win.
By then, I was fifteen-years ingrained into Arrow football, and I realized Clinton High School was about to be very very good at football in the near future.
Dontae Walker, pictured in a Clinton High School yearbook
During Walker’s sophomore year in 1996, he shared the backfield running the football with senior running back Jonathan Perkins and junior quarterback Juan Taylor. That trio each rushed for over 1,000 yards that season. Walker, as a sophomore, rushed for 1,242 yards in ten games, including 632 yards in the first five games, with 211 yards and 4 TDs late in the season against Callaway.
Patrick Bradley was a senior offensive guard on the 1996 football team for Clinton.
“During my senior year [1996], we were a dominant running offensive team,” said Bradley. “All we needed to do was to block down or kick out the defensive ends, and, once Dontae got past the linebackers, it was open season to end zone.”
In 1997, Clinton went 8-4 and made it to the playoffs. Walker had his best season, rushing for 2,042 yards and 28 touchdowns. His career best game was against Vicksburg, rushing 33 times for 304 yards and four touchdowns.
In the summer of 1998, Walker was getting mentioned and recruited nationally. He was selected to the prestigious preseason “Parade Magazine All
Walker playing for the Arrows
American Team.” That was a big deal in 1999 before the internet, when printed newspapers were the dominate news and sport outlets. Parade Magazine was inserted into every major Sunday newspaper in the nation. He was also was selected by The Clarion Ledger as one of the pre-season Dandy Dozen top high school football players in the state for 1998.
Walker and the Arrows did not disappoint in his senior season by leading the Arrows to the second round of the playoffs and their first ten-win season since 1987. Walker rushed for 1,880 yards and 33 touchdowns.
He received many postseason honors, including Class 5A- Region 2 Rushing leader, All Metro Area Player of the Year, All State Player of the Year, and Clarion Ledger Football Player of the Year.
As you may guess, Walker was recruited by just about every big-time football program in the country, but, in the end, he selected Mississippi State, coached by then-head coach Jackie Sherrill.
Walker made a fast impact at MSU. As a true freshman, he rushed for 384 yards and three touchdowns. The following season, 2000, was Walker’s most productive year at Starkville, when he scored nine touchdowns and rushed 795 yards.
The game I – and most Miss State fans – remember Dontae for the most was the Independence Bowl in 2000, now referred to as the “Snow Bowl,” played in a driving snow storm in Shreveport, Louisiana.
I still remember my wife and I going out to dinner with friends on New Year’s Eve, glued to the restaurant TV watching what would be Dontae’s best performance for the maroon and white against Texas A&M. He rushed for 143 yards dancing down the field in the rare snow storm and scored three touchdowns helping MSU to an exciting 43-41 overtime win over the Aggies. The iconic pictures of Dontae wearing a seldom-used white MSU helmet and white jersey running in the white snow still bring back great memories for many.
Walker’s production went down his final two seasons at MSU, but he still finished with 1,875 yards rushing and 22 touchdowns at Starkville.
Unfortunately, the next few years, Dontae went through some tough struggles in life. But, from what I am told, a few years down the road, he returned to central Mississippi and turned his life totally around.
He received his college degree in 2013 from Belhaven College and served the remainder of his life teaching and working with children and teenagers at schools to try to influence their lives positively.
Walker was also #3 when he played at Mississippi State University.
Former Clinton Arrow Kenny Lewis, who starred for the Arrow defense 1986-88, performed the eulogy at Dontae’s funeral services.
“I knew Dontae all of my life, and he was the best running back at the time ever to play for the Arrows,” said Lewis. “Like a lot of athletes, he went through struggles in his life after football, but turned his life around to help others; and that is what we want to remember about Dontae. He was loved by his children and will be missed.”
Bradberry, who was the head football coach at Clinton from 1991-2001, was also a speaker at Dontae’s services and reflected back on Walker’s extraordinary career at CHS.
“Dontae Walker was just a great talent. He was a generational player that you get maybe one time in your coaching career,” said Bradberry. “We played against opposing running backs that could run for a 15- to 20-yard gain, but Dontae was always a threat to break it 70 or 80 yards down the field, go the distance and score any time he touched football. And our opponents knew that.”
“Dontae also had the ability to read the defense and change things up in the second half,” remembered Bradberry. “Many times, he had more yards in the second half of the game.”
“I wanted to cry when they called my name at graduation at Belhaven,” Walker told The Clarion Ledger in 2013. “It’s been a long ride, and I have been working hard. I want people to see I am a productive member of society.”
That is the way I would like to remember Dontae Walker. A talented football player who overcame his struggles in life and spent the final eleven years of his life helping others.
I didn’t see Dontae after his years in college. But, every time I talked with him for a newspaper story while at Clinton or for a post-game interview at Mississippi State, he always had a big smile on his face and was pleasant to talk to.
“In the game of life, I often reflect back on the gridiron and tell people that I blocked for one of the greatest running backs to touch a Mississippi football,” said Bradley. “It was truly an honor and an amazing experience. Long live Clinton Arrow #3.”
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