Legendary Aurora track coach, Wilbert Walters, is coming out of retirement.
Walters, 97, will join Aurora biographer Maureen McKane for a reading of “Walters Way: A Coach, His Runners, and His Race” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25. The presentation and book signing will take place at Santori Aurora Public Library, 101 S. River St. in Aurora. The public is invited.
“Walters Way” was released Feb. 9 by Koehlerbooks. Compiled from interviews with Walters and former students, the book chronicles how Walters goes solo to uplift his race by launching the Aurora Sundowners Track Club for marginalized Black girls during the civil rights movement.
He teaches the fundamentals of excellence and prepares his athletes to thrive in a world that says they are extraneous. On the way, they take Junior Olympic medals.
The book details the glories and defeats of Walters’ life to a White author. He lives two lives simultaneously. In one, he is esteemed and awarded. In the other, where he is invisible, disaster hits twice. The second time, he is prepared.
Other presentations/signings are set for 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at Yellowbird Books, 34 S Stolp Ave, in downtown Aurora and at 5 p.m. March 14 at GAR museum downtown Aurora. All are free to the public.
—Al Benson