By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Thompson High School teacher Chris Walker does not fit the stereotype many people hold of coaches who teach, said THS Principal Dr. Daniel Steele.

“There is a stereotype about coaches. Some people think they are all about coaching, and they just bide their time teaching during the day until they can get out on the field,” Steele said. “That is not the case with Chris Walker.”

Walker, an assistant varsity baseball coach and U.S. history teacher at THS, was recently nominated by his peers to be honored as the school’s Teacher of the Year and as the Alabaster-Pelham Rotary Club’s Teacher of the Month for October.

During a Nov. 8 Rotary Club lunch at Shelby Baptist Medical Center, Steele joined Rotarians in presenting Walker with the Teacher of the Month award and a donation to his classroom.

“He is not only respected as a coach, but by his teachers for all that he puts in,” Steele said, noting Walker still holds the home run record at the University of Montevallo. “He is about making a difference at Thompson High School, not only on the ball field, but in his history class as well.”

After attending UM, Walker played minor league baseball with a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate team. After he was released from the minor leagues, Walker began teaching at THS in 1997.

“This is my home now,” Walker said of Alabaster. “We’ve got 100-plus teachers at Thompson High School, and they are great. They work their rear ends off to try to make a difference in this community.”