John Walker was born on Aug 24th, 1873 in Shotts, Scotland. In his early twenties he rose to fame as a professional football player and during his career, he played for the following teams: Heart of Midlothian 1893-1897, Liverpool 1898-1902, Rangers 1902-04 and Greenock Morton 1904-05.
He also held the following honours: He played for Scotland vs. Ireland in 1895, 1898, 1904 and for Scotland vs. Wales in 1897, 1904. He also played five times for the Scottish League team.
During the 1894-95 season, Hearts won their first eleven games which stands as a club record. The Championship title was secured on February 16th, 1895 in the fourth last game when Celtic "were destroyed at Tynecastle by the razor sharp, John Walker, who scored twice in a 4-0 win". Hearts were League Champions again in 1896-97 with midfielder John Walker as team captain.
In addition to the Scottish League Championship medals won in 1895 and 1897, John Walker won a Scottish Cup-winners' medal with Hearts in 1896. The following year the team fell on hard times with injuries to key players. This led to strained finances and John Walker was sold to Liverpool for £350.
In 1900 he was at his goalscoring peak with ten goals which included a spell of five in five consecutive games. During 1900-01 when Liverpool needed one point to win the League, John Walker's goal in the first half against West Bromwich meant that Liverpool were Football League champions. In total he played 121 games for Liverpool and scored 30 goals. In addition he played 12 games in the F.A. Cup and scored once.
In 1902-03, he returned to Scotland and helped Rangers to win the Scottish Cup against his old club, Hearts. During this season with Rangers he played 17 games and scored 7 goals in the Scottish League and five games and three goals in the Scottish Cup. With the Rangers, he was also a Scottish Cup winner in 1903 and finalist in 1904. In 1903-04 he played 21 games and scored 11 goals in the Scottish League, and five games and five goals in the Scottish Cup. He only played a few games for Morton before a knee injury ended his career in 1905. (Thanks to Colin Jose of The Soccer Hall of Fame in Ontario).