Sam Walton (American football)
American football player (1943-2002)
Samuel Thaw Walton (January 3, 1943 – May 9, 2002) was an American professional football tackle who played three seasons with the New York Jets and Houston Oilers. He was selected by the Jets in the third round of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft after playing college football at East Texas State University. He was a member of the Jets team that won Super Bowl III.
Early life and college
Samuel Thaw Walton was born on January 3, 1943, in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Melrose High School in Memphis.
Walton was a member of the East Texas State Lions of East Texas State University from 1964 to 1967 and a three-year letterman from 1965 to 1967.
Professional career
Walton was selected by the New York Jets in the third round, with the 72nd overall pick, of the 1968 NFL draft. He started all 14 games for the Jets in 1968. He also played in both playoff games, including the Super Bowl III victory over the Baltimore Colts. Walton appeared in six games, starting five, during the 1969 season.
In May 1970, Walton was traded to the New Orleans Saints for a draft pick, which was dependent on Walton making the team.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sam Walton (American football)” is american football player (1943-2002). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Walton, American and football, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “american football player (1943-2002)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17489559. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943, 2002, 1968 and 1964.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sam Walton (American football)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.