Jewel Jacobia Walker (born January 24, 1972) is an American businessman, politician, and former NFL player who served as a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

for the 26th district. Walker is also CEO and president of Walker Financial Services and a college football analyst for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

Early life and education

Born in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Walker attended University High School in Los Angeles and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

Career

Football

Walker played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in both

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

and

professional football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

, after a brief stint in professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. After high school, he was drafted by

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

's California Angels organization. He spent one year as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

before deciding to pursue college football. He initially attended Long Beach State but transferred when football was eliminated as a sport at the school. Walker later joined the

Howard Bison The Howard Bison and Lady Bison are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Howard University, located in Washington, D.C. The Bison compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s and Division I Footba ...

, where he set single-season records for pass completions and passing yardage, as well as a single-game record for pass completions (with 38). His passing earned him the nickname "Sky Walker." He was selected to the All-MEAC (

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

) teams in both 1993 and 1994, and named Offensive Player of the Year in 1994. That season, the Bison recorded an undefeated regular season while winning the MEAC championship and a claim to the

black college football national championship The black college football national championship is a national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best football teams among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within the United States. Histo ...

; the team also secured the school's first NCAA Division I-AA playoff bid and a top-ten national ranking. In 2005, Walker was voted into the Howard University Athletics Hall of Fame. Walker pursued a professional career in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

when he was selected in the 7th round of the

1994 NFL Draft The 1994 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Ma ...

by the New England Patriots. Walker spent the 1995 season in the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally ...

with the Barcelona Dragons, where he suffered an injury during a game in which a lack of

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

s required him to throw a pass on every play. Following the injury, he lost his job with New England, but he returned to the NFL with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, where he served as a backup for two years. He attempted two career NFL passes, both for completions.

Maryland Legislature

Walker was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates since January 2007 to 2023. He served on the House Ways and Means Committee. He was also a member of the

Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, Inc. (also known as The Maryland Legislative Black Caucus) is an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to the Maryland General Assembly. Incorporated in 1970, the Caucus me ...

. Walker sponsored House Bill 30 in 2007, establishing the Maryland Educational Fund. In March 2022, Walker announced that he would not seek re-election to any office in 2022.

Personal life

Walker is married to Monique Anderson-Walker, a politician and candidate for lieutenant governor of Maryland in 2022. He lives in

Fort Washington, Maryland Fort Washington is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It borders the Potomac River, situated 20 miles south of the downtown Washington, DC. As of the 2020 census it had a popul ...

, and has three children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Jay 1972 births African-American state legislators in Maryland University High School (Los Angeles) alumni American football quarterbacks Arizona League Angels players Barcelona Dragons players Living people Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Minnesota Vikings players College football announcers Long Beach State 49ers football players Howard Bison football players 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people New England Patriots players