Walker and Weldy attended Steubenville High School in the early 1870s, just as the community passed legislation for racial integration. As an adult, Walker enrolled at Oberlin College in 1878, where he majored in philosophy and the arts. At Oberlin, Walker proved himself to be an excellent student, especially in mechanics and rhetoric, but by his sophomore year, he was rarely attending classes. How Walker first came to play baseball is uncertain: according to Zang, the game was popular among Steubenville children, and while in Oberlin's preparatory program Walker became the prep team's catcher and leadoff hitter. Oberlin men played baseball as early as 1865—including a "jet black" first baseman whose presence meant Walker was not the college's first black baseball player—with organized clubs that engaged in intense matchups. Walker gained stardom and was mentioned in the school newspaper, The Oberlin Review, for his ball-handling and ability to hit long home runs. In 1881, Oberlin lifted their ban on off-campus competition. Walker, joined by Weldy who enrolled in the class of 1885, played on the baseball club's first inter-collegiate team. By Oberlin pitcher Harlan Burket's account, Walker's performance in the season finale persuaded the University of Michigan to recruit him to their own program. Transfer regulations at the time were generally informal and recruiting players from opposing teams was not unusual. Accompanying Walker was his pregnant girlfriend, Arbella Taylor, whom he married a year later. Michigan's baseball club had been weakest behind the plate; the team had gone as far as to hire semi-professional catchers to fill the void. With Walker, the team performed well, finishing with a 10–3 record in 1882. He mostly hit second in the lineup and is credited with a .308 batting average (BA). During his time at Michigan, Walker was paid by the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland to play for their semi-professional ball club in August 1881. Walker's presence was controversial when the team arrived for a game in Louisville, Kentucky, the first place to have a major issue with his race. As the team arrived in the early morning of the game, Walker was turned away from the Saint Cloud Hotel. More issues arose during game time: members of the Louisville Eclipse protested Walker's participation; Cleveland relented and held him out of the lineup. After one inning, his substitute claimed his hands were too badly bruised to continue, and Walker hesitantly walked