Dennis Allen Walker (26 October 1944 – 11 August 2003) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Walker was born in the town of

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. His mother, Mary Walker, of Queen Street Northwich. Dennis' father was an

Afro-Iranian Afro-Iranians ( fa, ایرانیان آفریقایی‌تبار) are Iran, Iranian people of Sub-Saharan Africa, African Zanj heritage. Most Afro-Iranians are concentrated in the coastal provinces of Persian Gulf such as Hormozgan Province, Hor ...

, although he described his heritage as Iranian/Argentinian. According to Mary, his father died at sea whilst Dennis was a baby. Despite this, he learned to speak

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

fluently, and corresponded and visited his father's family in Iran. He was picked up by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

at the age of 12, where Walker was part of the second generation of Busby Babes who were brought through the club after the Munich air disaster. He was on the verge of being selected for the England schoolboys under-15 team, which would have made Walker the first black player to represent England at any level, however he was not eligible as he had already signed professional terms with his club. He became a full-time professional in November 1961. Walker made his Manchester United debut against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 20 May 1963, the last game of the

1962–63 Football League First Division Statistics of Football League First Division in the 1962-63 season. Overview Everton won the First Division title for the sixth time in the club's history that season. They made sure of the title on May 11, after a 4-1 win over Fulham at Goodi ...

season, when

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

elected to rest several first team players ahead of the 1963 FA Cup Final; Walker thus become United's first ever black player. Although he remained at the club for a time afterward, including being selected for a pre-season tour of Italy ahead of the 1963-4 season, he was unable to displace the likes of

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cu ...

and

Denis Law Denis Law (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City ...

from the first team. He was released by the club and he joined

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in April 1964. He made 169 appearances for York before joining

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

, who he played for in both the Southern League and the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. Walker was married four times: his best man at his first wedding, shortly after he had joined York City, was former Manchester United team-mate David Sadler. After retiring from football he became operations manager at the

Manchester Arndale Manchester Arndale (one of a number of shopping centres in the UK by the same developers, also known simply as the Arndale Centre or the Arndale) is a large shopping centre in Manchester, England. It was constructed in phases between 1972 and 19 ...

shopping centre. He was on duty at the time of the 1996 Manchester bombing, when he supported the decision to evacuate the building after receiving a warning about the planting of the bomb, despite hoax calls not being uncommon at the time. The bomb detonated shortly after the building had been cleared: Walker himself was flung across the road by the force of the blast and hit the window of a branch of

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...

, although he was unhurt. He later suffered a stroke which left him paralysed on the right side of his body. He died at Stepping Hill Hospital in 2003 at the age of 58

References

1944 births Footballers from Northwich 2003 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Manchester United F.C. players York City F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players English people of Irish descent English people of Iranian descent British Asian footballers Sportspeople of Iranian descent Black British sportsmen {{England-footy-bio-stub