Hazel Leona Crutcher

Hazel Walker was born on August 8, 1914, on her family’s farm near Oak Hill (Little River County), nine miles from Ashdown (Little River County). She was the middle child and only daughter of Herbert S. Walker and Minnie L. Chancey Walker, both Arkansas natives of part Cherokee descent.

Hazel Walker was raised on a farm in Oak Hill Community, outside of Ashdown. She played basketball while attending Ashdown High School. A 7-time AAU All-American · Played for five different teams during her 14-year amateur career, winning four AAU national championships with the Tulsa Business College Stenos (1934) and Little Rock's Lewis and Norwood Flyers (1937, 1940, 1941) as well as posting four runner-up finishes and advancing to the Final Four three more times. Proclaimed National Free Throw Champion six times (1938, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1946). Selected as the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1940. Named Most Valuable Player of the 1942 AAU National Tournament. Also won a pair of International Free Throw titles (1944, 1945). Involved in professional basketball for 19 years, including three seasons with Olson's All American Red Heads (1946-49) before beginning her own barnstorming squad, Hazel Walker's Arkansas Travelers (1949-65) which played only men's teams using men's rules. Inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame 1959 · Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame 2001. Playing career spanned 37 years (1928-1965), from high school until her retirement as a professional player at the age of 57.

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