Former football head coach Link Walker is carried on the shoulders of his players after a big win.

Coach Link Walker will be missed

The Blugold football program lost a valuable supporter with the death May 28 of Lincoln "Link" Walker, UW-Eau Claire professor emeritus of physical education. Walker's association with the UW-Eau Claire football program spanned more than 60 years. An Eau Claire native, he received a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1950 from what was then Eau Claire State Teachers College. He was a quarterback for the Blugolds during the 1948 conference championship, helping win the university's first league title.

Walker taught and coached in the Wisconsin high school prep ranks until 1962 when he returned to what was then Wisconsin State College at Eau Claire as assistant coach. In 1964 he went to graduate school at what is now the University of Northern Colorado. He returned to UW-Eau Claire and was an assistant coach before taking over as head coach in 1968.

For the next 19 years he coached Blugold football. In the early 1980s, his teams had a 23-7 overall record, a 21-3 conference record and two Wisconsin State University Conference championships. His 19 years of service and 104 wins are still the most of any Blugold football head coach.