Walter Gordon joined Coach Andy Smith's Cal football team in 1916 as Cal's first Black player, dominating on both offensive and defensive lines for two years.

His skills earned him a place on Walter Camp's—the “Father of American Football"—All-American team, which was the “definitive team;” this drew attention to West Coast ball, as Gordon was the first West Coast football player to ever be selected.

That same year, he was honored in front of an audience at the Greek Theatre with an outstanding player award.

Walter Gordon's excellence was not without hardship: when the team travelled, Gordon had to use separate transportation and lodging because of racial prejudice.

Though this must have been an incredibly isolating experience, those who knew Gordon say he “push[ed] boundaries, while leaving other battles for a later day.”

Football was only one facet of Walter Gordon; after graduating, he went on to become many more things: Cal's first Black law graduate, Berkeley's first Black police officer, president of Alameda County's NAACP branch, chairman of the California Adult Authority Board, and Governor for the Virgin Islands.

After Gordon finished his undergraduate degree around 1919, he immediately returned to Cal as the first Black law student, motivated by his belief that change could be made through the courts.

At the same time, Gordon joined the Berkeley Police under August Vollmer, who knew Gordon from his status as star athlete, making him the city's first Black officer.

This was a dark time: the Ku Klux Klan was resurging here in the East Bay, where even a one-time police chief in Piedmont was a member.

When Gordon joined the police force, some of his white counterparts protested, to which Vollmer said that "he was sorry to hear [it]; they could leave their badges and guns by the door on the way out" (they quickly changed their tune).

By night, Gordon policed the streets, chasing down rum-runners and getting into shootouts with robbers; by day, Gordon sat in the lecture halls, soaking up legal knowledge at one of the top law schools in the country.

As if that isn't enough, he also returned to Cal football to help coach Andy Smith's Wonder Teams, a period when Cal didn't lose a game for five straight seasons. Gordon only slept a few hours every night.

In 1920, Walter Gordon married Elizabeth Fisher, who was also a Cal alum and dedicated herself to civic life.

According to a news article, she was a long-time member of the advisory board to the University Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), board of director for the California Conference of Social Work, and a member of the Alameda County Juvenile Prevention Committee.

She also was a member of Cal's Women's Faculty Club. During her time at Cal, she was part of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the first Black Greek letter organization at UC Berkeley.

After graduating law school, Walter Gordon opened a practice to help Black and Indigenous people in the East Bay community.

Around the same time, he became close with Earl Warren, who was the deputy district attorney for Alameda County at that time and went on to become Governor of California and eventually a Chief Justice.

Gordon also became the president of the NAACP Alameda County branch, using his legal prowess and community connections to challenge discrimination.

At times, his presidency was contentious, as members of the Black community had a deep distrust of the white establishment, and some viewed Gordon as being part of that establishment and acting too conservatively.

In a PBS documentary, Dr. Cornel West said, “Walter Gordon had his own kind of fire, his own kind of integrity, his own sense of how you bear witness in the face of a vicious white supremacy. It's just that he's much more tied to the mainstream, the establishment. [...] On the one hand, he could be inside of the establishment, almost like the spook who sat next door. But at the same time, he's part of an oppositional movement in the NAACP, fighting for civil rights, fighting for desegregation.”

After twenty years, Walter Gordon closed his private practice to focus on his position as chairman of California's parole board, an opportunity that Earl Warren helped create for Gordon.

He was “credited for helping to change attitudes towards crime, focusing on humane policies and rehabilitation” throughout his tenure. Later, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Gordon to governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and then President Harry Truman appointed him federal judge there.

When he eventually returned to Berkeley, it was a different place, marked by the People's Park protests, the rise of the Black Panther Party, and anti-Vietnam War activism—a stark contrast to the Berkeley Gordon knew from the early 1920s. Regardless, PBS filmmaker Doug Harris said, "He came back and hit the ground running just the same."

Walter Gordon died in Berkeley on April 2, 1976, at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, a daughter, and two sons. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery.

In 2022, UC Berkeley held a 100th anniversary tribute at the International House to commemorate Walter Arthur Gordon's legacy of firsts, kindness, resilience, and greatness. In 2024, PBS released a documentary about this larger than life figure titled All American - The Walter Gordon Story.