Joe Walton obit

Longtime Robert Morris coach Joe Walton dies at 85

 

He was not the list.

Joe Walton, a first-team All-American tight end at Pitt in 1956 and later a 35-year fixture in the NFL as a scout, player and coach before returning to college football to build the Robert Morris program from scratch, died Sunday. He was 85.

Born in Beaver Falls, Walton evolved from a second-round draft choice of the then-Washington Redskins in 1957 into one of the most respected coaches in the NFL through the 1991 season, his second as offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He played tight end for seven seasons (1957-63) with Washington and the New York Giants, recording 178 receptions for 2,628 yards and 28 touchdowns. After retiring in 1964, he remained with the Giants for four seasons as a scout.

But he wanted to get into coaching, and it was there he made his most significant impact. He started as wide receivers coach of the Giants, later coordinating the offenses in Washington and with the New York Jets and Steelers. He also spent seven seasons as coach of the Jets (1983-89).

Walton is one of a few coaches who have won at least 50 games as a head coach in the NFL and college. Plus, he worked with some of the great quarterbacks of his day, including Joe Theismann, Fran Tarkenton and Norm Snead.

After leaving the Steelers following the 1991 season, he got back in the game when he was named the first head coach in Robert Morris football history July 27, 1993, a position he held for 20 seasons through 2013.

Pat Narduzzi tweeted - Paying tribute to a great Pitt Man. RIP Coach Walton

He did it all with the Colonials: hiring coaches, purchasing equipment and recruiting athletes for the inaugural season of 1994. He started that season with 64 freshmen at a school that never had football and ended up leading the team to a 7-1-1 record. He won his first game 21 days after the start of training camp and immediately ran off a five-game winning streak.

“Coach Walton took our football program from nothing to something special,” Robert Morris senior associate athletic director Marty Galosi said in a statement.

In 1996, Walton led Robert Morris to the Northeast Conference championship. The Colonials were 10-0 in 2000, and in 2010 they earned the Northeast Conference’s first berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.

Overall under Walton, the Colonials won outright NEC championships in 1997, ’99 and 2000 and shared three others in 1996, ’98, 2010. He led RMU to consecutive ECAC Bowl victories in 1996 and ’97. In 1999 and 2000, he guided the Colonials to NCAA I-AA mid-major national championships, according to Don Hansen’s National Weekly Football Gazette.

The school named its stadium after him in 2005. Joe Walton Stadium hosted its first game Sept. 17, 2005, a 49-13 victory against Butler.

Walton recorded a career record of 114-92-1 at Robert Morris and was named NEC Coach of the Year four times (1996, ’97, ’99, 2010).

Three of his players — Tim Hall, Hank Fraley and Robb Butler — played in the NFL.

“The first time I heard former student-athletes talk about coach Walton, not one mentioned how good a football player he made them,” current Robert Morris coach Bernard Clark Jr. said in a statement. “They all spoke about the men he helped them become. That is the sign of a great teacher. We’re sorry to learn of his passing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

Walton was inducted into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013, and also was a member of the 2013-14 class of the NEC Hall of Fame.

Walton returned to his hometown of Beaver Falls in 1990 with his late wife, Ginger, who preceded him in death in 2007 after 47 years of marriage.

He and Ginger had three children, daughters Jodi and Stacy and son, Joe, plus six grandchildren.

Walton also is survived by his second wife, Patty Sheehan Walton.

Former Robert Morris player and coach Brian Cleary said, “Coach Walton built Robert Morris football from the ground up. He established a culture and helped model the men we are today. Joe Theismann is 100% correct in saying that we all have a part of Joe with us. He was a great coach and a great friend and will be greatly missed by all.”

Longtime Robert Morris play-by-play man Chris Shovlin said when he thinks of Walton it’s as a “patriarch, architect, mentor and friend.”

“He changed the lives of everyone who came in contact with him, molding players into men of character and positively impacting the entire RMU community. In our last conversation just a few months ago, I told him, just like I tell everyone, Joe Walton made me a better play-by-play announcer, and being around him all these years made me a better person.”