Gifts by Family of "Ole" Walker '12 to Create Baseball Facility for DePauw

January 25, 1982

January 25, 1982, Greencastle, Ind. - One of DePauw University's oldest families has made gifts and commitments to build a new baseball facility for the college.  The field will be built on a five-acre wooded site, which is just north of Blackstock Stadium and west of the main campus.  It will be named in honor of Merle Royse "Ole" Walker, a 1912 DePauw graduate and two-sport athlete who went on to a career as a distinguished lawyer and investment counselor.

Over $60,000 in cash and pledges have been made by Walker's three children: Guy Morrison Walker '44, Fisk H. Walker '50 and Bruce Walker '53.  Guy Walker's children Stuart '76. Alison '77, Douglas '78 and Cameron have also contributed to the project.  The Walkers' relationship with DePauw goes back six generations; "Ole" Walker's father is memorialized by the annual Walker Cup.

Surveying for the field was completed this past winter.  The playing area will be cleared this spring for the major work of excavation and grading.  The field should be ready for competition in the spring of 1983.

The new facility will be fenced, have an outfield warning track, dugouts, a scoreboard, and bleachers in an amphitheatre-seating arrangement.  Distances down the foul lines will be 331 feet and 400 feet to center field.

DePauw's baseball teams have historically played on a field just behind (west of) Blackstock Stadium.  Games included an historic 1936 contest between DePauw and the famous St. Louis Cardinal "Gashouse Gang."  It will be converted to a softball diamond for intercollegiate and intramural use.

Walker Field "will really be a major league type field," says head baseball coach Ed Meyer '62, who had led his team to the NCAA playoffs in three of the last five seasons. The coach anticipates hosting a summer baseball camp and bidding to host NCAA tournaments.

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