Former Oregon State Softball Coach Named to Hall of Fame
Two weeks before Pat Casey's Beavers stormed through Omaha for their first national championship, another Oregon State team made history of its own.
The softball program reached its first College World Series.
This past weekend, the coach of that softball team, Kirk Walker, earned a special honor. He was named to the LGTBQ Sports Hall of Fame, presented by the Sports Equality Foundation.
Walker is Oregon State's winningest softball coach, and he has the fifth-most wins in school history across all sports. A UCLA alum, he began his coaching career as an assistant under the legendary Sharron Backus - who brought nine national championships to Westwood - and he assisted on six title teams.
In 1995, he arrived in Corvallis. Four years later, the Beavers won a then-program record 47 wins, and earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance. For his efforts, Walker was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year. In 2005, Oregon State won 43 games and their first-ever Pac-10 Conference Championship, and he was once again named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
In 2006, Walker's Beavers transcended further, winning 28 consecutive games en-route to their first Women's College World Series trip.
He was a memorable leader in the dugout, but perhaps better known as a trailblazer in college athletics: in 2005 he came out to his team, and in 2007 he came out publicly in an article by OutSports.com. At the time, he was the only openly gay male coach in all of NCAA Division I. He later heard from many gay and lesbian coaches, who found inspiration from his courage. After his story went public, Walker told the New York Times "Although it’s only my story, it has definitely changed a lot of people’s perspectives — just internally, of how they view themselves”.
In 2012, Walker resigned to take an assistant position at his alma mater UCLA, and recently began his first year as the Bruins' Director of Softball Administration.
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Matt fell in love with radio during his college days at Oregon Tech, and pursued a nine year career in sports broadcasting with Klamath Falls' and Medford's highest-rated sports radio stations. He currently lives in McMinnville wine country and is excited to talk about the Beavers again.