Won't You Celebrate With Me
There are so many reasons I love my second alma mater. Take a look at this story about one of our most remarkable graduates from this year's class, and you'll see why watching this kind of magic (translation: hard work!) unfold in real time makes this job so rewarding.
On May 11, 2024, Clint Walker received his PhD in Psychology at age 76. His journey at Howard is a long one that began after a short detour.
In 1965, Howard offered him three different scholarships—what they called back them “grant aids”—for football, basketball, and track. On the advice of a school counselor, he went to a PWI in Iowa. The night his team played Missouri, he was knocked into the stands during the game. He was wrongfully called for a foul, but that was not the worst of it. After gathering himself and managing his anger, he heard a kid sitting a couple of feet away from where he landed say, “Look Ma. They got red blood, just like we do.” The end of that semester found him in the Howard athletic department asking if the scholarship offers were still available.
Howard welcomed him, so he had the experience of being a Howard student athlete. He was one of the first graduates with a degree from the then newly established Afro-American Studies Department.