Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

 
You know him as the second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Neil Walker also was one of the WPIAL’s best all-around athletes during his days at Pine-Richland. His friends jokingly nicknamed him “God” at Pine-Richland, and he did everything but walk on water for the Rams. He is one of the few WPIAL athletes to win the Post-Gazette Athlete of the Year twice. Walker’s No. 1 sport was undoubtedly baseball as he hit .504 in four years as a starter, with 32 home runs and 102 RBIs. He was terrific as a senior with a .657 average, 13 home runs, 42 RBIs and a 1.403 slugging percentage. In 2004, he was the first WPIAL player to be taken in the first round of the Major League Baseball in 26 years. But Walker also was an outstanding receiver in football, twice being named to the PG’s Fabulous 22 and having some Division I college scholarship offers for football. On top of that, he was an all-section pick as a junior in basketball.