Scholarship Criteria

Graduating high school senior; involvement in athletics and school and community activities; full-time enrollment at a college/university.

Scholarship Information

A 1992 inductee into the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame, this celebrated coach, athlete, husband, and father of seven was a man of many talents. Roy Walters set most of his high school's individual records in football and track.

He played freshman football at the University of Iowa then transferred to Mankato State University in Minnesota where he starred in football and track. He still holds the school records for the 100 and 220 yard dashes.

In 1948, Walters was one of just four sprinters in the U.S. to run the 100 in 9.6 seconds, but was declared ineligible for the Olympic trials because he was coaching track in Redwood Falls, Minnesota.

Walters came to the Kalamazoo area in the early 1950s to coach football at State High, which later became University High. He coached there for 15 seasons, posting unbeaten records in 1955, 1959, and 1960. His teams were ranked number one in the Associated Press poll in Class B in both 1959 and 1960.

Lending his talents to both golf and track, he coached University High to consecutive Class B state golf championships in 1963, 1964, and 1965 and turned out a succession of outstanding track and field teams. Walters left University High to become the middle school principal at Comstock and later became the high school's head football coach.

Upon his death in 1995, a memorial fund was established at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation to provide financial support for higher education to students who have participated in athletics as well as school and community activities, and who demonstrate financial need.