Editor's note: With Donald Trump becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee earlier this week, we decided to pull a few highlights of him from our archives.
The relationship between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Cowboys great Herschel Walker goes way back, all the way to the 1980s. And Walker was quick to announce his plans to vote for Trump this election cycle.
Back in 2011, Walker shared with SportsDay some of comparisons of Trump and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
"Donald’s hair is different than Jerry’s," Walker said. "Donald probably has more money right now. But he has also filed more bankruptcies than Jerry. I think they are similar in that they both work extremely hard and they are marketing geniuses. I’ve known Jerry as a marketing guy and Donald is as well."
And what did he learn from Trump?
"One thing Donald told me, any publicity is good publicity. I didn’t understand what he was talking about when he first told me, but now I do," Walker said.
Walker and Trump have been pals since the early 1980s, when Walker played in Trump’s short-lived United States Football League before heading to the Cowboys a few years later. In 1983, Trump’s USFL New Jersey Generals signed Walker to then the richest contract in pro football when he signed a three-year deal worth $5 million.
So Walker thinks he's speaking with some authority when he said last month that Trump critics have the GOP front-runner all wrong.
“He has always been a great, great man to me,” Walker said. “Of all the things you hear about Donald, a lot of the stuff is not real. … He’s not a racist.”
Nor does Walker find him polarizing, despite some of the mogul’s harsh rhetoric and reports of violent clashes between Trump supporters and protesters.
Walker, who retired from the NFL in 1997 and later became a mixed martial arts fighter, said Trump isn’t out “to get anyone beat up or anyone hurt. He’s trying to make this country a great country.”
“There’s not a doubt in my mind right now he is my frontrunner,” Walker said back in August. “I’m not going to say anything negative about him because it’s not true.”
Walker said he agrees with Trump on having a strong military and on building a wall between the U.S.-Mexico border, but disagrees on the Trump’s position of deporting the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Walker also believes Trump’s business background will help create jobs.
He also said he admires Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, but, “She’s a politician.” Walker wants a business person in office.