P.J. Walker: A legacy that will never be duplicated

Without this final drive, Temple doesn’t even get to the title game, let alone win it.

Just a small note in the transactions section in the back of the Philadelphia Daily News, but it jarred a lot of good memories:

“Quarterback P.J. Walker has announced his retirement from football.”

Here are the top 10 quarterbacks of all time from a statistical standpoint at Temple. Arguably, Walker had the best career and Evan Simon had the best single season.

After nine years in three pro leagues, mostly with the NFL, Walker has decided to move on with his life, and we wish him the best because he gave us his best.

For all the NFL success he had, he will be most famous for the legacy he left as a Temple Owl: Winning.

Steve Joachim was on this impressive list of Maxwell Award winners from the 60s and 70s.

You can have all the stats you want and Walker compiled some impressive stats with the Owls, but here is something that will probably never be duplicated under the current lawless college football landscape.

Consecutive double-digit win seasons.

Walker was the quarterback for a pair of back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2015 and 2016, and, in that period, Temple football went to one AAC championship game and won another.

What would happen now if Temple had a 10-win quarterback? He would probably be poached by a P4 school. That’s the sad reality we live in today.

Same can be said for career numbers. E.J. Warner had a chance to break all of Walker’s numbers after getting off to a good start but decided that the grass on the other side of the Edberg Olson fence was greener.

Lee Saltz (left) with Paul Palmer is No. 6 on the career list.

It wasn’t. He never had as good a year elsewhere as he did his first two years at Temple.

Is P.J. the greatest quarterback of all-time at Temple?

There’s a good argument to be made for him, but there is just as good an argument for Steve Joachim, who had a better winning percentage and was able to take home the College Football Player of the Year trophy (Maxwell Award) in 1974, finishing just ahead of Ohio State’s Archie Griffin, who won the Heisman that year.

Joachim also had the highest passing rating (141.7), while Adam DiMichele was second (134.3) and Simon third (133.1).

Passing ratings are a fine indicator but, as far as careers go, Joachim and Walker’s couldn’t be beat. In the current climate of musical chairs among players and coaches, though, it’s safe to say that those two legacies won’t ever be matched.

Friday: The Halcyon Days

One thought on “P.J. Walker: A legacy that will never be duplicated

  1. Walker led TUFB to a conference championship and played on Sundays.

    Hard to imagine another Temple QB duplicating those accomplishments in the NIL era.

    Further, even harder to imagine TUFB playing in another conference championship game. Tulane, USF, ECU, and Memphis are committed to winning and will spend more than Temple.

    MR should have stayed, Temple should have built an on campus stadium. We should have capitalized on Walker’s success and moved to the Big 12 with Cincinnati and UCF. Temple had the better team. They had the better vision.

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