Here is a nice article from the Times Argus about our own Don Walker:

February 27, 2007 By Tom Herzig Correspondent

Don Walker, right, was back at his usual position at the scorers' table Wednesday as the Barre Basketball Tournament got under way at the Auditorium. Photo: Stefan Hard/Times Argus When the ball is tossed to start the Division II girls basketball semifinal between Vergennes and Mt. Abraham Wednesday night at the Barre Auditorium, official scorer Don Walker will begin tabulating his 600th consecutive high school tournament game. There's been no indication that you'll hear a retirement speech anytime soon. Last year, the streak was temporarily in doubt while Walker, 80, recuperated from open-heart surgery performed at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center less than a month before the tournament got under way. "After a week or so, I began gaining strength and everything went fine," Walker said. "It probably did me a lot of good to have the job waiting for me." Since the outset in 1974, Walker has had only two instances that jeopardized his streak. He chose to attend his grandson Geoffrey's hockey tournament game at Norwich in '96 and announced plans to make it to the Aud by halftime. "I actually made it back earlier than that," Walker recalled, "but I waited until the third quarter to jump in." "In 2000, the year the Norwich University hockey team won the national title, I was leaving a playoff game there, fell coming down the steps and dislocated my right thumb – and I'm right-handed," Walker said. "I was at the Central Vermont Medical Center until 2 a.m., then went and scored three boys' championship games the next afternoon. My hand was throbbing so bad I had to keep raising it up in the air. I went back to the hospital that night and they put a pin in." Walker resides in Montpelier with Audrey, his wife of 59 years. "Audrey has gone to some hockey games when there was a Walker family member involved, but no, she doesn't go the basketball games," he said. "The year after we were married in 1948, we went on a vacation in New York City and along with a Broadway show and such, she went with me to the entire National Invitational Tournament (NIT) — about 16 games in all — and she hasn't been back to one since." Not surprisingly, Walker has all the scorebooks of those games "somewhere in the house" As a 7-year-old, Walker was allowed to walk from his home to Rutland High School varsity games and soon he began scoring them on his own. At the end of World War II, as a good typist and dependable statistician, he was stationed at a Great Lakes Naval base that processed and discharged troops returning home. Beginning in the '70s, he was the Spaulding High scorekeeper for 22 years. For the past 15 years, he has been working the table at Montpelier High School. Tonight, with a one-day break in the action at the Aud, he's scheduled to be scoring the Milton-Montpelier boys Division II opening round game. "There have been many memorable and emotional moments as you can imagine; I wouldn't want to try and single anything or anyone out," Walker said. "There have been so many wonderful kids and outstanding performances. It's not always the top scorers that perform the best. I would estimate that probably as many as 50 of the games have gone into overtime. On the whole, with a few exceptions, everybody – players, coaches, fans, officials and staff — have conducted themselves with class and dignity." Walker has every scorebook he used along the way at the Aud. As for occasional trips over the years to Fenway Park – you guessed it. Game scored and scorecard on file – somewhere in the house.