Biography

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Walters played high school basketball at Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose, California, but graduated from Independence High School in San Jose, California. Walters played at Northwestern University before transferring to the University of Kansas, where he helped lead the Jayhawks to the Final Four in 1993. During his time at Kansas he was coached by Roy Williams. The 6'4" (1.93 m) shooting guard was selected by the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets with the 16th pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. Walters played in the league from 1993 until 2000. He was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in his third season and he also played briefly with the Miami Heat. After leaving the NBA, Walters played for León and Gran Canaria in Spain. In addition to his playing career, Walters had a minor role in the 1994 film Blue Chips. Walters is biracial; his father is white and his mother is Japanese.

In an interview with Rick Quan, Rex Walters responded to the question of feeling that he was a pioneer for Asian-Americans. He responded - "I consider myself Japanese-American. I just don't look it. People are always surprised. Now we got a guy like Jeremy Lin breaking barriers, I'd like to think I played a small part in that". He later added, "People ask me who I am? What I am? I am a Japanese-American, I take great pride in that."

Coaching career

From 2006-2008, Walters served as the men's basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University. From 2008 to 2016 he was the head basketball coach at the University of San Francisco. In 2014, Rex Walters was named WCC Coach of the Year by his coaching peers. He finished his University of San Francisco coaching career with a 127-127 overall record, including a 63-65 mark in West Coast Conference games.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt Conference)
2006-07	Florida Atlantic	16-15	10-8	3rd (East)
2007-08	Florida Atlantic	15-18	8-10	4th (East)
Florida Atlantic:		31-33 (.484)	18-18 (.500)
San Francisco (West Coast Conference)
2008-09	San Francisco	11-19	3-11	7th
2009-10	San Francisco	12-18	7-7	T-4th
2010-11	San Francisco	19-15	10-4	3rd	CIT Quarterfinals
2011-12	San Francisco	20-14	8-8	5th	CBI First Round
2012-13	San Francisco	14-15	7-9	5th
2013-14	San Francisco	21-12	13-5	2nd	NIT First Round
2014-15	San Francisco	14-18	7-11	6th
2015-16	San Francisco	15-15	8-10	5th
San Francisco:		126-125 (.502)	63-65 (.492)
Total:		157-158 (.498)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]