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Longtime Naples High Coach honored with court naming




Longtime girls basketball coach Dave Walker was honored with the renaming of Naples High School’s basketball court. He passed away from brain cancer in 2017.

Longtime girls basketball coach Dave Walker was honored with the renaming of Naples High School’s basketball court. He passed away from brain cancer in 2017.

Tiffany Sigal’s eyes glistened and her voice wavered with emotion.

Family, friends, former students, players and colleagues of longtime Naples High School girls basketball coach Dave Walker looked on as the school dedicated the newly renamed Coach Dave Walker Court in the school’s gymnasium on Thursday.

“It brought me to tears, which I wasn’t expecting,” said Ms. Sigal, Mr. Walker’s only daughter. “It’s really special. It speaks a lot of who he was and his approach that he could get this kind of support.”

In 1975, Mr. Walker started his teaching career at Naples and in 1979 took over coaching the girl’s basketball team. He would hold that job, in addition to his time as a math teacher, until his retirement in 2012. During those 30-plus seasons he notched 612 wins, eight district titles and two regional championships. In 2012 he was also inducted into the Florida High School Athletic Association’s coaching Hall of Fame.

He passed away in 2017 from brain cancer.

RJ ROAN / FLORIDA WEEKLY

RJ ROAN / FLORIDA WEEKLY

“I think he would be incredibly honored [if he were here]. Despite that tough exterior he had an emotional heart. I think it would choke him up trying to say thank you to everyone,” Ms. Sigal said.

Mr. Walker’s connections through Collier County were deep and vast. At one time, every coaching staff in Collier County had one of his former players on the bench. He got his first coaching assignment as a football graduate assistant from current Collier County School Board Chair Roy Terry, who was the head football coach at Morehead State University at the time.

The two would work together again in 1979 when Mr. Terry took over the head coaching job at Naples, where Mr. Walker was the offensive line coach.

“We have a long history,” Mr. Terry said. “Dave was a great guy, a hard worker, and one of the best offensive line coaches I’ve ever seen.”

Now the athletic director at Naples, Ernie Modugno first met Mr. Walker in 1981 as an assistant coach for Naples’ JV football team, and on Mr. Terry’s advice learned under Mr. Walker.

“He was a really good teacher, and I was a really poor student,” he joked. “The reason he was such a great coach is because he was such a great teacher, and I had the benefit of that firsthand.”

After his first cancer diagnosis and surgery in 2015, Mr. Walker’s cancer returned aggressively a year later. A former player and assistant coach started a Facebook page to keep people up to date on what was going on, and since his passing, “Coach Walker’s Crew” has turned into a living memorial. Former players and those who knew him continue to share their stories about their time with Walker.

“The outpouring of stories and posts that came from that, not just his basketball players but his football players, students. He got them through school. He was like a parent to everybody,” said Leann Burkholder, Mr. Walker’s longtime girlfriend. “I still read those to this day. It’s comforting.”

Ms. Burkholder worked with Naples principal Darren Burkett and with CCPS officials to try and create some sort of memorial for Walker at the school, which eventually ended up with the very floor that he had coached so many students on.

“It’s very important that we give recognition to people who have given their time, I mean, if you look at coaching and the money you get and the time you spend, it’s not a whole lot,” Mr. Terry said. “This is the least we can do for a guy who spent a lot of time, saved a lot of young ladies and young men, and it’s an honor well deserved.” ¦

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