Pittsburgh Pirate Neil Walker Named to WPIAL Hall of Fame

Neil Walker—at the ripe old age of 26—is a Hall of Famer.

The former star athlete, who now plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was named Thursday to the WPIAL Hall of Fame.

The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League announced its 2012 Hall of Fame class at a news conference Thursday morning, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Here is the bio listed on the WPIAL Hall of Fame site:

NEIL WALKER, PINE-RICHLAND HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2004

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.

Walker is quoted in an MLB.com article saying he was honored to be chosen.