The obit said that Melvin Alexander Walker, age 68, of Institute, passed away after a short illness in San Diego.
Perhaps to the Millennials or Net Generation, that sentence meant little. But to the older folks in the Kanawha Valley, the sentence leapt like Bob Beamon off the page.
The reason?
"Most coaches," said local coaching legend Tex Williams, "compare him and Randy."
Moss, that is. Melvin Walker, you should understand, has been compared to Randy Moss.
For those unaware of Walker, let that sink in. All Moss did was win the Kennedy Award in football, take home the high school basketball Player of the Year award twice, win track championships, hit .300 in baseball and go on to an NFL All-Pro and, soon, Hall of Fame career.
"I remember watching Melvin playing in the state football championship," Williams said. "He and Randy were the two most versatile athletes I've seen since I've been around."
Now, sadly, Walker is gone.
"It's still fresh," said Walker's brother Glen, who lives in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. "At times I still get a little bogged down [with sadness]."
It's a story about athletic excellence, but also one of tragedy. See, Walker attended now-defunct Dunbar High and was built similarly to Moss at 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds. The former DHS Bulldog won the Kennedy Award as his school's quarterback in 1965, leading his team to a 9-2 record and a Class AAA title-game loss to Bluefield.
Walker was The Man, calling his own plays and passing for 937 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior, despite missing time with a thumb injury. He also rushed 70 times for 512 yards, a 7.3 per-carry average. On defense, he was a terrific safety. On special teams, he punted and ran back kicks.
In track, he ran the 100-yard dash in 10.3 seconds and long jumped 21 feet, 9 inches, farther than any high school athlete at the time. He also played baseball.
"Melvin loved baseball," Glen Walker said. "He used to play Pony League. There were probably 10 teams. I remember Mr. [Everett "Scud"] Johnson coaching. He told Melvin he should play baseball. Melvin said he'd get stuck in the minor leagues.
"Mr. Johnson said, 'Melvin, that's for the other guys. You're going to the major leagues.' "
Glen Walker said his brother would lay on the floor in their house, take a pencil and hit a marble with it over a makeshift outfield wall.
"He was quick-twitch," said the brother. "He would visualize the game."
It was football, however, that took Melvin Walker away from Dunbar. He earned a scholarship from the University of Wisconsin and enjoyed an outstanding sophomore season as a defensive back.
And then the tragedy hit. Walker broke a leg in his sophomore season finale. Complications set in and the standout's leg was amputated below the knee.
In a 1999 Charleston Daily Mail story written by Tom Aluise, former Dunbar football coach Delmar Good, now deceased, called Walker "as good as there's ever been in the county."
"That guy could do everything," said former Winfield coach Leon McCoy. "He was just a natural."
Bill Young, Walker's basketball coach, chimed in.
"Anything that boy put his mind to, he could play. The kid was the best all-around athlete to ever come out of this state."
That's a high compliment considering Moss had 1,413 yards receiving for the Minnesota Vikings the year of that statement.
"It depends," Young continued, "on which coaches you ask."
OK, so perhaps most would point to Moss. It's understandable. Yet to simply be put in the same class with Moss as one of the area's top all-around athletes tells you something about Walker.
"He was so low-key though," said his brother on Wednesday. "He didn't think he was special. And around our house he wasn't treated special. He never wanted that.
"I really didn't know about all his athletic achievements until I was older. But I do remember he won the Tom McAn trophy - and we never knew about it. It was a bronze shoe given to the most outstanding player in the Kanawha Valley, but he didn't even mention it."
Glen Walker said his brother handled life after the amputation well.
"He was the type that was always moving on. In sports, it was about the next play. After the surgery, he got a lot of attention, but it wasn't what he wanted. He went back to school on a crutch. It wasn't even healed yet. But he just went back to his dorm room with his roommate."
His roommate then was Melvin Reddick, a standout wide receiver at UW. ("It was the Melvin and Melvin show," Glen Walker said.)
Walker's brother said Melvin went on to work at a bank and for Oscar Mayer but wasn't working at the end. He knew some friends in San Diego.
It was tough, you could tell, for Glen Walker to talk about. As he said, the death is still fresh in his memory. But he should be consoled that the memory of his brother will remain fresh around the Kanawha Valley. Just ask Tex.
"He was so smooth and effortless playing ball," Williams said. "I remember wondering when he'd make a mistake.
"He never did."