Steve Walker: One of the good guys calls it a career

Steve Walker congratulates Jeremy Wu of St. Mary’s of Medford after firing a state-record 9-under-par 63 at Quail Valley in Banks in the first round of the 2015 3A/2A/1A golf championships (courtesy Steve Walker)

Updated 10/15/2024 10:52 PM

I have spent a career in sports media in the state of Oregon. I have dealt with media relations people of all types through a half-century — many of them very good at what they do.

Steve Walker, who retired Thursday after 24 years as sports information director for the OSAA, was one of the truly good guys, and among the best in his profession.

Walker, who turns 62 next month, is affable and accommodating but was also reliable at getting things done, both for the OSAA and the sports media in the state.

“Steve is one of a kind,” says Pete Lukich, the former athletic director at Sunset High, Walker’s alma mater. “He was as good as there was at his job, with his love for doing what he could to support athletes and high school kids. He was just fantastic.”

“He was the consummate professional in terms of how he dealt with people and his position,” says Bill Bowers, a former Springfield High AD and for 14 years the executive director of the Oregon Athletic Directors Association. “You never replace a person like Steve; you just hire someone else to try to do the job.”

Nate Lowery, who worked in sports media relations at Boise State, has been hired to take Walker’s position. I am guessing Lowery will be just fine, but he has big shoes to fill.

There are some in the business who regard a media request as an imposition. Not Walker. He was always willing to go the extra mile to try to help.

“I grew up in the service industry,” he says. “It makes me feel good if I help somebody along the way to solve an issue, whether it is getting a broadcast on the air or with help getting a credential.”

OSAA executive director Peter Weber has six assistants, all of whom have specific duties. Walker handled a plethora of them but specialized in media relations.

“I loved being the media guy,” he says. “In my job, I was able to meet so many people statewide. There are so many nice folks working in sports media in this state. It has been an absolute blast to work alongside them.”

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Steve was the third of five children born to John “Buz” and Pat Walker. The Walker name is well known in the Portland area. Steve’s great-grandfather established Walker Garbage Service in 1915 with one of the first garbage trucks in the city, hauling away ash from burn piles and barrels. The official company has been serving suburban Portland since 1948, when Buz and a partner bought the original hauling firm. Steve’s brothers Jeff and Greg now run the business; Steve’s son Matt handles operations for his uncles and Steve’s sister Kari McCullough works in the office.

As a youngster, Steve worked part-time for the company.

“During the summers, we, as little kids, took turns going to work on Tuesdays with my dad,” Steve says. “There was nothing like spending the day with Buz. He enjoyed talking with customers and seemed to have a story to tell just about everything out there.”

Walker played varsity basketball at Sunset for the late, great Ken Harris, in his first year coaching there after moving from Churchill High.

“It was wonderful being a part of that,” Walker says. “I have always kept a special place in my heart for Coach Harris.”

Walker graduated from Sunset in 1981 and from Oregon State in 1985. He was president of Phi Delta Theta and worked as sports director for both radio and TV at student station KBVR.

“I thought about being the next Bill Schonely,” Walker says. “I called play-by-play as we simulcast for baseball and women’s basketball during the eras of Jack Riley and Aki Hill. I sure enjoyed that experience.”

Upon graduation, Walker did a summer internship at KOIN-TV, then got a job as news director for an FM station at Kah-Nee-Ta, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. In 1986, he married Lori Kleinsmith, who got a job at the aquatic center at Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation — a position she still holds.

Walker spent six months as an editor at the Northwest News Network in Portland before being hired as sports information director at the University of Portland in 1989.   

He served nine years on The Bluff, becoming fast friends with Clive Charles, who would go on to coach the Pilots to a pair of NCAA championships in women’s soccer.

“I roomed with Clive on road trips,” Walker says. “It was one of the most entertaining things I have done in my life. I learned you don’t mess around and try to match practical jokes with former professional athletes, because you are going to lose.”

Walker also traveled with the men’s basketball teams coached by Larry Steele and Rob Chavez during those years.

“I loved being at UP,” Walker says. But he was a one-man band, with graduate assistant and intern help but no full-time assistant SIDs.

“Working in college athletics can chew you up and spit you out,” he says. “The schedule from mid-August through May is relentless. I needed a break from it. I was feeling a little burned out.”

Walker resigned in 1998, got his commercial driver’s license and went to work for the family business for two years.

“I loved being out there with my brothers and my dad,” he says. “But I had that pull to get back into communications. I started to get that itch.”

Walker was hired by the OSAA in 2000. He reported to Weber — who began with the OSAA only the previous year — but assisted all six of the assistant directors in a number of activities. Among Walker’s duties: Media relations, services, publicity, news releases, broadcasting, the OSAA radio network, the NFHS Network, published programs, statistics/results, historical records/archives, OSAA media passes and event credentials.

Walker’s appearance hasn’t changed a bit since he began working with the OSAA in 2000 (courtesy Steve Walker)

Other than that, he hasn’t had much to do.

“Steve is the best,” says Weber, who met him when Weber was a student at Saint Mary’s and Steve was the SID and UP. “He has done a really good job for us. He has helped improve a lot of areas in what we do. He has been integrally involved in getting us where we are today in terms of our radio network, video streaming and stuff like that. We are definitely going to miss him.”

Walker, right, at work next to KBZY radio’s Mark Gilman at the scorer’s table during a state tournament event at Chiles Center (courtesy Steve Walker)

The pleasure, Walker says, has been his.

“Had I not taken the job, I would never have had the statewide experience to get to know the media,” he says. “I know almost everyone calling or covering prep sports in the state. For me, it never gets old watching kids try to win state championships. That has been a lot of fun. It is still a big-time deal to me to watch state championship games.”

Of all the sports, Walker has had a special affinity for track and field. Among his favorite memories:

• Churchill’s Jordan Kent, who bettered the state meet long jump record of 24-1 1/4 set 41 years earlier by Jefferson’s Mel Renfro by a foot, leaping 25-1 1/4 as a junior in 2001. Kent became the state's first four-event individual champion in the same year by winning state 4A titles in the long jump, 100, 200 and 400 meters as a senior.

• Yoncalla’s Maranda Brownson, who won 16 of a possible 16 individual (no relays) state 2A titles during her career from 1998-2001.

• Summit’s Kellie Schueler, who claimed 16 state titles at the 5A level from 2007-10. She was a four-time state champion at 100, 200 and 400 meters and in the 4 by 100 relay.

Walker often worked the state basketball tournaments. He has fond memories of the 2006 and ’07 4A/6A championship game matchups between Kevin Love-led Lake Oswego and Kyle Singler-led South Medford. “We sold out (Eugene’s) McArthur Court,” Walker says. “The place was cracking.”

The 2006 title tilt was special to Walker for another reason. Son Matt worked as a ball boy at the state tournaments for years. He was 10 that year. Among the perks was the chance to shoot baskets before and at halftime of games.

Steve was working in the press room before the championship game when he heard a roar from the packed house. Moments later, Matt, came running in, out of breath. Fooling around, he had hit a shot from mid-court.

“I just hit this shot,” he said. “The crowd was cheering for me!”

“I wondered why it felt like the balconies were falling beneath stomping feet,” Steve says.

Walker often worked state championship football games. Two highlights from 6A title affairs at Reser Stadium: Chris Casey’s Aloha team, led by Thomas Tyner, burying Tualatin 34-13 in 2010 and Clackamas beating South Medford 31-30 on a 37-yard Jeffrey Nelson field goal with three seconds remaining in 2017.

For more than a decade, Walker was the OSAA’s on-site rep at the state 3A basketball tournament in Coos Bay and North Bend.

“That was always a blast,” he says.

Bowers and former McNary AD Mike Maghan coordinated the ticket operation at the 3A tournament.

“Afterward, we would always share a few cold brews,” Bowers recalls. “Steve is a light beer drinker. We would get a cooler in our hotel room and make sure we had a tall Coors Light ready for ‘Walk.’ ”

Those who have worked with Walker over the years appreciate him in many different ways.

“Steve was such a great advocate for all of us in the media,” says John Gunther, for 27 years sports editor of the Coos Bay World. “When it came to time for help with anything that was OSAA-related, he was the first person I reached out to. Any time we had issues, whether it be security issues in the press area or access to a field, I would go right to him. He was always helpful and professional.”

Brad Garrett is a former OSAA assistant executive director who retired in 2022. They would often room together on the road when working events.

“ ‘Walk’ was in a lot of ways transformational,” Garrett says. “The OSAA was slightly archaic prior to Steve’s arrival. It is no exaggeration to say that he created media relations for the OSAA. He made sure (his co-workers) always understood how important the media was, what role they played and he we needed to support them.

“He is a people person. I saw him get fired up once in awhile about certain things, but he is a humble guy. Steve is somebody who makes you a better person just getting to know him. He is a good dude, bottom line. The OSAA will miss him.”

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Things are much different than when Walker started with the OSAA at the turn of the century.

The final 24 years of Walker’s professional career were spent as an executive with the Oregon School Activities Association

“There has been an amazing amount of change,” he says. “The biggest is the demise of the smaller newspapers, which has left a hole for who is going to cover local sports. Schools themselves are trying to pick up the slack. They are becoming their own news outlet via the internet.”

It used to be that, especially outside the Portland metro area, radio stations carried prep football games. Not so much anymore.

“We see a ton of stuff video-streamed now,” Walker says. “And we are part of the NFHS network, a pay service to watch games. Not everyone is a fan of the subscription model, and it has been a work in progress.”

Then there is HUDL, a software platform that provides video analysis and coaching tools for sports teams.

“That has saved a lot of lonely assistant coaches long drives to scout a team,” Walker says.

Walker says he has enjoyed working with the on-site professionals who manage the sites that host the OSAA’s state championships, and with the ADs of schools who help stage them.

“You really get to know them,” he says. “The annual Oregon Athletic Directors Conference every April at Sunriver has been one of my favorite things to do. My value has been my connectivity, having been around for so long.”

The OSAA now has 16 full-time employees, including the sports property group.

“Pete has built a good team,” Walker says. “There is all this positive energy. The staff works hard and plays hard. There are a ton of laughs at the office, all day, every day. It is a grind during the championships seasons, but we love it.    We band together and everyone supports each other and helps when requested.

“It makes for an ideal workplace recipe. It starts with Pete, who I always said would make a great pro sports general manager.    He knows how to build a team and he cares for and treats everyone like family, which we really are.”

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But now Walker has moved on. He will spend more time with Lori, his bride for 38 years. She plans to retire in three years once Steve reaches Medicare age.

Matt Walker, Steve’s youngest son, served as a ball boy for many OSAA state basketball tournament events. Here he launches a pre-game shot from distance as his father (standing at right) looks on (courtesy Steve Walker)

There will be more time to spend with their two grandchildren and visits to prep sporting events as a spectator, something to which he is not accustomed.

Steve and his siblings hold seven collective season tickets to Oregon State football, a tradition that has been in the Walker family for more than 50 years.

Sister Kari is a season-ticket holder for women's basketball and baseball.

“The rest of us travel to Corvallis for games when we can,” Steve says. “I imagine that will increase for me.”

There will be more time to spend at family vacation homes in Seaside and Manzanita. There will be some travel. For their 40th anniversary, the Walkers are planning a trip to Australia.

For now, Steve is working on his health. For more than a year, he was treated for prostate cancer.

“They consider me in remission for that,” he says.

A recent exam found two spots on his pelvis “that are treatable,” he says. He is in the midst of radiation treatments for 38 consecutive weekdays that end on Oct. 30.

“Short daily doses,” he says. “Super easy. I am doing wonderful. I feel like a million bucks.”

It is that kind of attitude that makes Steve Walker’s friends appreciate him even more.

“When Steve told me (about the cancer), months after the fact, there was such positivity with his outlook on life,” Lukich says. “Yes, it was an episode in his life, but he had moved on and was doing all the things he needed to do to make sure he lived a lot longer.

“The enthusiasm and the positivity of the response he gave me was very impressive. I was like, ‘wow.’ It was refreshing.

“What a person Steve is. What a career he has had.”

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