. . . while Walker looks to coaching future

Everyone knows a Zack Walker.

Someone who eats, breathes and sleeps basketball. Maybe it's your roommate or an old friend from high school. This person never missed a game on television, could tell you who the NCAA champion was for the last 20 years and always jumped at the chance to lace up his or her shoes and go shoot some hoops.

But Walker is slightly different from your average gym rat.

You see, Walker is on the Penn State men's basketball team, not just someone who hangs around the Intramural Building waiting to get on the next open court.

Walker, a senior walk-on, spends his days getting the Nittany Lions ready for their next opponent, whoever that may be, knowing he probably won't see any action.

"To tell you the truth, it's not a big deal to me," Walker said. "I don't care about getting in. I'm not doing this to play. If I don't get one second of playing time, that's fine."

For Walker, practice is like another class in his schedule. He hopes to be a college basketball coach someday and his experience with the Lions is something like an internship. He gets to watch a Big Ten coaching staff prepare everyday and gets to see how players react to its coaching techniques. He is constantly watching, learning and absorbing everything his coaches do.

Walker's venture with the Penn State team began in the summer of 1996. He was about to begin his junior year, his first at University Park, after two years at the Berks Campus.

"He used to come up to the Jordan Center when we were playing and just hang out," Penn State point guard Dan Earl said. "Usually we had 11 or 12 guys and he wouldn't get in. He would just wait until days when we only had nine and then he'd play."

Walker came to know most of the Lion players through these preseason pickup games and began to think he had a shot at making the team. He tried out in November, but Penn State didn't need any other shooting guards.

So, Walker was turned away by Lion coach Jerry Dunn and his staff. He was devastated at first. He had worked most of the summer and fall on his game and was sure he had what it took.

But instead of throwing in the towel or sulking, he demonstrated two traits the Penn State coaches and players would see many times in Walker -- persistence and humility.

He approached Lion assistant coach Christian Appleman with a simple question, "What else can I do?"

Appleman gave Walker some odds and ends that needed to be done. He spent the next few months breaking down film, taking statistics and basically doing anything he could.

"He would do whatever you asked," Appleman said. "He liked being around the program."

So much that the coaches invited him to help out with their summer basketball camp. There, Walker worked on developing his coaching skills and showed the coaches another side of himself. The way he interacted with children showed them what kind of person he was, one who cared.

What they saw was the kind of guy who you talk to for five minutes and he makes you feel as if he's known you since he was growing up in Kansas. His permanent smile puts you at ease and his easy-going manner wins you over in no time.

"Coach Dunn came up to me after practice and said, 'I want you to get a physical,' " Walker said. "I think I just kind of smiled and said, 'It's about time.' "

Walker busts out laughing at the thought of actually saying that to Dunn but surely he must have thought it. He had come a long way from Kansas.

His family had relocated to Indianapolis when he was 13 after his father got a new job. They moved again before his senior year in high school, this time to Reading. After graduating from Schuylkill Valley High School he decided to attend Penn State-Berks for a year and then either transfer or move up to University Park.

He ended up liking the Berks Campus and stayed for two years, playing basketball there as well. He arrived in State College before his junior year. After his parents dropped him off for the beginning of classes, they continued on to the Walker family's new home outside Birmingham, Ala.

Zack's parents made the trip back to University Park from Alabama for last Saturday's game against Purdue. It was the first time they had seen their son in a Penn State uniform and one could tell from their faces -- and the way they snapped pictures of their son warming up -- it was worth every minute of the 16-hour trip.

"This is something he wanted to do to prove to himself he could do it," said Zack's father, Steve. "I don't think playing was as important as making the team. I am proud of his effort and his stick-to-itiveness."

His persistence was tested again after he made the team. He found out the NCAA had lost his Clearinghouse materials and he was not eligible to play yet. He wasn't cleared until January and had to wait for a uniform to come in before suiting up for Penn State's game against Northwestern on Jan. 22. The Clearinghouse debacle was just another curve ball thrown Walker's way.

"I've got a 3.54 grade point average at Penn State University and I'm graduating in a year," Walker said. "Give a kid a break."

It has all paid off for Walker, who now is getting a free course in Coaching 101. He takes his seat at the end of the bench for Lion games and pays close attention to what Dunn and his staff do, especially in timeouts when he fights for position in the team huddle.

But Walker knows this isn't his only role. He works hard to get his teammates ready before games, being whichever shooting guard Penn State may be facing that week.

Then come game day, he takes on his other role.

"The best walk-on cheerleader in America," said Walker, who is usually the first one on his feet after a big shot. "That's my role and that's fine with me."

Walker will graduate in May with a degree in kinesiology. He plans on going to graduate school and to pursue his goal of being a coach by becoming a graduate assistant, preferably at a top Div. II school.

For now, though, he still has two regular season games and the Big Ten Tournament to prepare for. He has yet to get into a game this season, coming as close as giving his name to the scorer's table against Northwestern before time ran out.

Traditionally on Senior Night, every senior gets to play, but Walker said he won't be disappointed if he doesn't get in tonight against Michigan.

"Honestly, I don't care," Walker said. "I'd rather win than me get 10 seconds of playing time. It doesn't matter to me."

What matters to Walker is getting his coaching career off the ground. He knows the things he's seen in practice and learned in games have been more helpful than anything he could have done in the IM Building. He's now ready to get on with his life as a successful coach.

Although he doesn't care whether he sees the floor tonight, there will probably be 14 players dressed in Blue and White and one sitting behind the bench in a shirt and tie hoping Walker gets in.

"I'd love to see him get in," said Earl of the lanky player he remembers waiting to get in the pick-up games at the Jordan Center. "He's a good friend and a hard worker."

What will Walker do if he doesn't get in against the Wolverines?

"I'll just get my towel at the end of the bench," Walker said, "and keep on cheering."