Herschel Walker Mixes It Up

It didn't make huge sports headlines, but Wrightsville's Herschel Walker thumped the competition in his first Mixed Martial Arts match. Greg Nagy didn't last long against the guy who does 1,500 sit-ups and 750 pushups in a day. Nagy came in with youth on his side. Walker had pure determination and a 47-year-old body going into the bout.

I visited the folks in Johnson County before the match. Many worried about his safety, and others felt the kid they saw run all over the Trojan field and lead the team to a state championship could do anything he wanted no matter how many years accumulated in his life span. And if you look back on Walker's career he loves a challenge. He won the Heisman at Georgia. At Dallas the other guys were jealous because the coaches didn't make Herschel do the morning conditioning drills. They told them...if you can do what Herschel does every day you can skip them too. No one took the offer. After the pros wore down his body a bit, the athletic guy from Georgia turned heads again when he joined the Olympic bobsledding team.

Herschel is a sweet, yet intense guy. I had the chance to meet him when I emceed the cache ceremony (cache is when the post office issues a special envelope) in his honor. He was humble, funny and yet you can see that determination in his eyes. Like most people I didn't want Herschel to get hurt, and I had a big grin on my face when I found out he won in the cage.

As for the future he says he wouldn't mind fighting again. Jose Canseco has expressed an interest in fighting. Herschel told a radio show "If Canseco thinks this is going to be a circus, I will hurt him, this is not a joke because I don't do things as a joke."

Hershel is the real deal, I'm not a betting person but I'll try not to worry about the next bout and have complete confidence in the supreme athlete from Wrightsville.

Have a good week you guys.

Suzanne