It won’t be long now. June 6, 2025, will be here in 12 days, and thousands will wonder how time has moved so quickly. A week from Friday will make six years he’s been gone, and over those six years they have done their best to Be Like Walt.

He came into the world on April 27, 1983. “It was a little bit overwhelming,” said Tuscaloosa’s Betsy Gary. “Having a son with Down syndrome was uncharted territory for me and my husband Walter.”

Little did Betsy and Walter know they would be raising one of the world’s most passionate Alabama football fans — a fan who for nearly 30 years turned big, tough football players into teddy bears, and is still inspiring them today.

Perhaps we think of Walt Gary nearly six years after his passing because in today’s divided world, we need Walt the most.

“Walt was high functioning — witty and funny,” said Betsy. He was a kid who grew to love country music, strumming his guitar, drinking Diet Coke and rooting for the Crimson Tide.

And once a week during football season, Walt Gary loved delivering his weekly football predictions to Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban.

Oh, Walt Gary loved the Alabama Crimson Tide. Never one to mince words, the vocal, happy bottle of inspiration who underwent four open heart surgeries in his lifetime bled not red, but crimson.

And he was always at the ready with a classic quip.

“Years ago, a nurse asked Walt if he was allergic to anything, and Walt said, ‘Yes, the Auburn Tigers’,” chuckled Betsy.

There was something about Walt Gary. Oh, he was a handful growing up, but his penchant for quips left family members in stitches. “I was 5 years older than Walt,” said Walt’s sister Allison Gary-Drake. “Walt was always positive. He was never down about the things he couldn’t do.

“He continues to inspire me to this day.”

It was 33 years ago, and a kind gesture started Walt Gary on his path to making a difference.

It was 1992, and the kind gesture came from Alabama football coach Gene Stallings.

“Walt was acting up in school, so I tried bribing him,” laughed Betsy. “I told Walt if he was good at school, I would take him to a Crimson Tide football practice to meet Coach Stallings. I knew the coach from the RISE Center, where Walt and Coach Stallings’ son John Mark had become friends. Coach Stallings told me to bring Walt to practice!”

How could they not love Walt? Jay Barker and Antonio Langham, George Teague and Derrick Lassic – the Crimson Tide players all welcomed Walt to practice. Walt was smitten as he watched his heroes run onto the practice field.

Coach Stallings’ kind gesture made for the beginning of a Bama fan who would become a legend.

“I remember Walt,” Coach Stallings told me days ago. “Walt and my son John Mark were good friends. I just wanted to make sure Walt had a place to go on Thursday afternoons. I was glad to have Walt at practice.”

The years rolled on, and Walt’s visits kept coming. Coaches DuBose, Franchione and Shula would welcome Walt.

“Coach (Mike) Shula actually shut down practices, so we couldn’t greet the players as they ran onto the field,” Betsy told me. It was a blessing in disguise, as Walt and his parents started visiting the players after practice at the football facility.

“It gave Walt more time to chat with the players,” added Betsy. “And when Coach Saban arrived, he soon welcomed Walt’s predictions each and every Thursday night.

Football wasn’t Walt’s only sport. It was 2004, and Mark Gottfried was leading the Crimson Tide men’s basketball team to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight in Phoenix. Walt and Bama star guard Antoine Pettway had become close.

“Walt asked me if Bama beat top-seed Stanford, if we could go greet the team on their arrival home,” said Betsy.

“I told Walt that Bama was not going to beat Stanford, and even if the Crimson Tide won, the team wouldn’t arrive home until 3:30 in the morning.”

Wouldn’t you know, Bama beat Stanford 70-67, and after the Phoenix regional was completed, there stood Walt and his mother at Coleman Coliseum to greet the team at 3:30 am.

It was a few years after Coach Saban’s arrival in Tuscaloosa. It was 6:54 pm on a Thursday during football season. Walt patiently waited for practice and meetings to wrap up. Coach Saban trotted down the stairs on his way to his “Hey, Coach” radio show.

Saban couldn’t help but grin as he stopped to chat with Walt.

Coach Saban was at ease, for he knew his team was being tabbed for a big win.

48-0. 39-10. 300-0.

Walt gave the coach his game prediction scratched out on a piece of paper. The coach hugged Walt as several players poured out of the facility, many of them excited to hear about Walt’s prediction. A Thursday night tradition was born.

As the Crimson Tide football machine gained steam under Coach Saban, Walt’s relationships with the Bama players gained steam as well. The players looked forward to seeing Walt on Thursday nights — he took the players on a brief trip away from their pressure and their intensity.

And every Thursday, laughs capped off their day.

“It was the Thursday night before the 2015 Iron Bowl,” Betsy told me. “Derrick Henry was one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy that year, and as we traveled to the football building, I told Walt NOT to mention the Heisman Trophy to Derrick.

“I told Walt that Derrick didn’t need distractions, what with the Iron Bowl so close. Well, Derrick came walking toward Walt, and Walt started singing the song, ‘New York State of Mind’.

“I didn’t think Walt knew the Heisman ceremony was in New York, let alone the words to the song,” Betsy chuckled.

“I never said the words ‘Heisman Trophy’,” laughed Walt as he grinned at his mother.

He was rubbing off on the Crimson Tide players — the big, tough footballers were looking to Be More Like Walt: patient and kind, nonjudgemental.

One Crimson Tide football star fell hard for Walt, developing a true bond with the Bama football fan. Quarterback Jalen Hurts recorded most of his Thursday night moments with Walt. Nearly four years after Walt died, the Philadelphia Eagles star reached out to Betsy just moments after Betsy texted him “good luck” before Jalen played in the February 2023 Super Bowl.

“Mrs. Gary,” texted Jalen. “I kid you not. I expressed aloud today how Walt was on my heart. Today I told stories of Walt’s legacy, energy and love! For you to text me tonight is just God doing His work. Hope all is well. Thank you so much!”

 Just days before the Super Bowl, the Eagle’s star was texting Betsy, telling her what Walt meant to him.

In just 12 days, the Gary family will release some balloons and share stories of Walt on the sixth anniversary of his passing. They will talk about how Walt fought through heart issues but was finally called home on June 6, 2019.

They will remember the words Coach Saban uttered to a large group at Bryant-Denny Stadium days after Walt passed:

“Many Thursdays when I came down those stairs, there was something on my mind. Things didn’t go the way they were supposed to go, I was worried about the opponent and how we prepared that week, something went wrong in my personal life, whatever it was.

“When I got to the bottom of those stairs and saw Walt and that card … and incidentally, for all those years we were never the underdog,” Coach Saban chuckled.

Walt Gary was a poster boy for positivity. He called Down syndrome “Up syndrome”. He worked at the Supe Store in Tuscaloosa for 15 years. He never judged, but always loved. He was witty and funny and original.

“I have a hard time posting things about my brother to this day,” said sister Allison. “Six years later, I still thank him every day for what he brought to my life.”

Walt Gary, Bama fan extraordinaire, will be thanked not only on June 6, but for years to come.

He will be thanked for bringing light and love into so many lives.

He was the 36-year-old who inspired us.

Inspired us to Be Like Walt.

Rick Karle, who writes a weekly ‘Good News’ story, is a 25-time Emmy winner and a 43-year veteran of broadcast news who has lived and worked in Alabama for 35 years. You can find his work on Facebook at Rick Karle Good News. Send your story suggestions to: [email protected]