LOVE That: The Sam Walker Story

Sam Walker has been the editor of the Wall Street Journal's daily sports page since its launch in March 2009. Now Walker is leaving the section this spring to become the Journal's deputy enterprise editor. The love his colleagues feel for him, or their desire to roast him publicly, is evident in their reaction when I invited them last week to participate in a Varsity Letters recalling the best of WSJ Sports under Walker: Nearly everyone—more than 15 people—agreed to speak. He brought the full weight of his writing talent to the editing job, making a section that nearly from Day One established its unique mix of scoops, humor, investigation, insight, obsessive quantification, deep analysis, the offbeat, and a notable lack of traditional game stories.