Herschel Walker

At 62 years old, Herschel Walker has this physical status:

Herschel Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former professional football player, bobsledder, sprinter, and mixed martial artist.

He played college football for the University of Georgia, earned consensus All-American honors three times, and he captured the 1982 Heisman Trophy.

Walker began his football career with the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL), before joining the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL).

He has played for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants in the NFL.

In 1999, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Early life

Walker was born in Augusta, Georgia, to Willis and Christine Walker. He was born in Wrightsville, Georgia. He was one of seven children. Walker said he was overweight and had a stutter as a child.

Walker has repeatedly stated that his maternal grandmother was Cherokee and has been identified as Native American and Black. Walker is not identified in the Cherokee Nation tribe's database, according to the Cherokee Nation tribe. He conducted a 23andMe ancestry test to back up the assertion, but did not announce the findings publicly.

Walker attended Johnson County High School in Wrightsville, Alabama, where he played football, basketball, and track and finished in time. He competed for the Johnson County Trojans high school football team from 1976 to 1979. He rushed for 3,167 yards in his senior season, helping the Trojans capture their first state championship. As the year's national high school scholar scholar, he was named in the inaugural Dial Award.

Walker also competed on the Trojans' track and field team in sports ranging from the 100-yard dash to the shot put. At the GHSA Class A State T&F Championships, he took the shot put (16.56 meters/4in), 100-yard dash (9.5s), and a 220-yard dash (21.5s) competitions. He also led the 4400 team to victory in a time of 3:24.01 minutes.

Walker was named as an Athlete-Scholar delegate by the American Academy of Achievement in June 1980 and received the Academy's Golden Plate Award from Council member Coach Tom Landry at a banquet in 1981.

Walker wrote in his 2008 autobiography that he was president of Johnson County High School (which required average "A" grades) and class valedictorian. Walker's Senate campaign website claimed he graduated as the valedictorian of the entire high school in December 2021, but CNN found no evidence supporting this claim. Walker's website was later deleted and replaced by the fact that he attended a high school "top of his class."

Personal life

Before heading to Atlanta to run for Senate in 2022, Walker lived in Westlake, Texas, before relocating to the Buckhead district of Atlanta. He formerly lived in Irving, Texas, in the Las Colinas area. Trojan Way, the street where Johnson County High School resides, was officially renamed Herschel Walker Drive during Wrightsville's annual Fourth of July celebration and parade on July 4, 2017.

Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, Walker's college sweetheart, married him in 1983. They have a son, Christian, who went viral for his liberal rants. Walker and Grossman divorced in 2002 after 19 years of marriage. Julie Blanchard said she was Walker's fiancée from 2012; Walker married Blanchard in 2021.

According to a Walker's book, police were called to Grossman's house by Walker's therapist during Walker's visit to the city; Walker was "volatile," had a gun, and was frightening Grossman. Walker "talked about having a shoot-out with police," according to the report, but the counsel, Jerry Mungadze, defused the situation after speaking with Walker for at least half an hour. According to the article, police confiscated a SIG Sauer handgun from Walker's vehicle, put his house on a "caution list" because of Walker's "violent tendencies," but did not arrest or charge Walker. Mungadze told the media that after a therapy session with Walker and Grossman, he called 911 because Walker "thented to murder" all three of them, prompting the police to arrive; the result of the assault was Walker striking a door and breaking his fist.

Grossman accused him of "physically assault and highly threatening conduct" when he applied for divorce in December 2001. Walker stabbed a pistol at her head during her marriage and declared, "I'm going to blow your f'ing brains out." She also said he had used knives to assault her. After Grossman's sister said in an affidavit that Walker told her "unequivocally" that he was going to shoot my sister Cindy and her [new] boyfriend in the head, she was released a restraining order against him. As a result, a judge had also issued a temporary gun-owning ban to Walker. Walker claimed that he did not recall the assault or the threats, and that his strange conduct with his wife and others is due to his dissociative identity disorder, which he was diagnosed in 2001.

Myka Dean, a woman from Irving, Texas, told police that she "lost it" and threatened to wait at her house to "blow her head off" in January 2012. The responding police officer described it as "high dangers." Dean, along with her mother and stepfather, were business partners of Walker's company Renaissance Man Inc., and the allegations in the 2012 police report were untru, according to Walker's 2022 political campaign, who maintained that Walker's and his company Renaissance Man Inc. had a positive relationship with Dean's parents.

Walker has two additional sons and a daughter who did not publicly reveal before his 2022 US Senate bid; he did not announce them until June 2022, just one day after The Daily Beast announced the death of one of his additional sons. Walker said in a conference last month that he had "never denied" having four children. Walker later revealed that he had lie to his 2022 Senate campaign about how many children he had, while The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said "allies to Walker" who said Walker was not forthcoming about how many children he had. Walker said he did not publicly acknowledge his children to prevent them from being revealed to unnecessary curiosity, but he chastised the assertion that "I hide my children because I don't debate them with reporters to win a campaign." Walker frequently spoke about his relationship with his oldest son Christian, who died earlier in his Senate campaign.

In a 2020 interview, Walker said that fatherless households were a "significant problem" in African-American families prior to publicly identifying his other children. Christian Walker, Walker's adult son, criticised Walker, saying, "my favorite topic to talk about is father absence."

Surprise!

It was affecting me. He has four children and four different women. One of them was not in the house raising one of them. "He was out having sex with other women." Walker's mother, another of Walker's sons (born in 2012), said he had seen his son "maybe three times" in October 2022, mainly because of Walker's parenting contributions, not from him.

Walker's adult son Christian attracted the attention of Walker in October 2022, in a terrifying way. "You're not a 'family man' when you told us not to kill a bunch of women, threatened to murder us, and told us to move more than 6 times in six months running from your violence, you've lived a life of destroying other people's lives," Walker said on Twitter. Walker posted on Twitter shortly after Christian's allegations, that he loved his son "no matter what."

On October 3, 2022, The Daily Beast published allegations from a woman who said that Walker impregnated her and paid for her abortion in 2009. The woman backed up the allegation by releasing pictures of a personal check from Walker, a get-well card with Walker's ostensibly signature, and a $575 receipt for an abortion. The Daily Beast confirmed that it corroborated the tale with the woman's friend, who "took care of her in the days after the operation." "I never begged anyone to get an abortion," Walker said. I never paid for an abortion. "I give money to people all the time because I'm always helping people," Walker said when asked about the check. Walker said he would sue The Daily Beast for defamation. The woman was the mother of one of Walker's children, according to The Daily Beast, despite Walker's assertion that it was not a time for him to have a child.

Later that month, The New York Times interviewed the same woman and her companion, corroborating the newspaper's findings. The woman also told The New York Times that she ended her relationship with Walker after he told her she had a second abortion in 2011. Walker and the woman's son, who was born in 2012, were found by family court papers in New York. Walker confirmed that she was the mother of his son on October 7, 2022, and that she did not have an abortion or not have one [an abortion]. I'm not aware of it." He admitted the possibility of having sent his accuser a 'get well' card and a check for other reasons, but said he didn't remember doing so.

Walker has talked openly about being diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder and has served as a spokesperson for a veterans' mental health services service. Walker says he wrote the book Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder in 2008 to help dispel myths of mental disorder and assist others.

Walker claimed in the book that he had a dozen distinct identities or alters. Some of his alters did fine things, according to Walker, but other alters displayed extreme and violent conduct, which Walker said he couldn't recall. In 1991, he began playing Russian roulette as he saw "mortality as the greatest challenge," he wrote. Since being tempted to murder a man who was late in delivering a car to him, he was officially diagnosed with the disease in 2001.

Walker attributed his divorce to his psychosocial disorder. Walker's alters were somehow controlled during the first 16 years of their marriage, according to his ex-wife, and she had no idea that he had any disorders. As Walker was diagnosed, the situation greatly worsened, according to Grossman, who began to display either "very sweet" alterations or "very violent" alters that looked "evil." She said she was in bed when he held a straight razor to her throat and yelled that he'd kill her in one situation where Walker displayed two alters and said she'd be dead. Walker did not deny Grossman's account, saying that he did not recall it because blackouts were a sign of the disorder.

Walker was the subject of an Irving, Texas police report drafted by a former cheerleader while getting medical attention for dissociative identity disorder in May 2002. She said he followed her house and that she was "very scared" of Walker but that she did not want police to contact him because doing so would "only make the situation worse." Walker had a "confrontation" with Walker earlier in 2001, which was followed by Walker's warning her to be afraid and "having her house watched."

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College career

Walker has stated that he graduated from University of Georgia "in the top 1% of his class" beginning in 2017. He did not graduate and moved to college to play football, but he didn't graduate. He did not return to complete his degree. Walker's senate campaign website deleted the claims about his education after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution inquired into it, with Walker acknowledging in a tweet that he did not graduate from the university without being able to play professional football in December 2021. Walker later stated that he never said he graduated from the university.

Walker spent time on the track and field teams for the University of Georgia, where he was a three-time All-American (football and track) and winner of the 1982 Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award winners. He is the first NCAA player to finish in the top ten in rushing yards after only three years, a record set by Jonathan Taylor. Walker set the NCAA freshman rushing record in 1980 (later broken by Taylor) and ended third in Heisman polling. Walker was the first "true freshman" to play All-American in a first-team All-American.

Walker, who was listed as a 6 ft (2.88 kg) running back, was the most coveted after high school football player in the country, and he signed a national letter of intent to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs on April 6, 1980.

Carnie Norris, a sophomore, started the season ahead of Walker at tailback when the Bulldogs took on University of Tennessee on September 6 in Knoxville, beginning with a tailback. In the third quarter, Tennessee held a 15–2 lead until Walker changed the game's momentum. Walker scored on a counter from 16 yards out, where he ran over safety and future Dallas Cowboys teammate Bill Bates near the goal line late in the third quarter. Georgia defeated Georgia 16–15 after Walker scored on a 9-yard touchdown run five minutes later.

: 73–89

At home, Georgia defeated Texas A&M, and Walker finished with 21 carries for 145 yards and three touchdowns. Buck Belue complemented Walker's ground game by going 6 of 13 for 147 passing yards during the game. 203 By halftime, the Bulldogs had a 28–0 lead. Walker stopped off a 76-yard touchdown run with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Georgia got off to a 6–0 start by knocking off Clemson (20–16), TCU (34–3), Ole Miss (28–21), and Vanderbilt (41–0). Walker ran for 121 yards against Clemson and 69 more against TCU, with a 41-yard run. Due to a injuries, he missed a lot of the Ole Miss game. Walker had 23 rushes for a career-high 283 yards in a game on October 18, scoring on long touchdown runs of 80, 48, and 53 yards. 204–07 Georgia used special teams and defense to help Georgia beat Kentucky (27–0) and South Carolina (13–10). On November 1, Walker and George Rogers, the Gamecock's soon-to-be 1980 Heisman Trophy champions, were among the winning in Athens, Georgia over South Carolina. Walker punched for 219 yards, while Rogers had 168 yards on 35 attempts. Since Walker's 76-yard touchdown run, Georgia had a 10–0 lead. The Bulldogs were up 13-0 in the third quarter and then went on to defeat the Gamecocks 13–10.

Walker carried Georgia's offense, passing 37 times for 238 yards against the Gators. 114–59, 210 He began the first quarter by getting a toss sweep to the right and running 72 yards for Georgia's first touchdown. In the 3rd quarter, Georgia grew its lead to 20–10 before starting to recover.

Georgia defeated Auburn 31–21 on the road on November 15 to secure the SEC Championship. Walker completed the majority of the job by rushing 27 times for 84 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown. Georgia defeated Georgia Tech 38-20, who was left with an exclamation point by scoring on touchdown runs of 1, 23, and 65 yards in the regular season. Walker punched for 205 yards in 25 attempts.

The Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in the nation's top 100 percentiles in 1999. In the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La., one of 11–0 as they were invited to play a traditional football power, coach Dan Devine's Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9–1–1) as they were invited to play a traditional football power. 169–69, 211–12 Walker, who suffered a dislocated left shoulder early in the game, finished with 36 yards on January 1, 1981, one of the longest runs in the game. 170–213 - Notre Dame's first attempt at a kickoff was tied 3–3. Walker didve over the top for a 1-yard touchdown run to put UGA up 10–3 leads two plays later. At the Irish 22-yard line, Notre Dame failed and set Georgia up. Walker was back in the end zone for a 17–3 lead three plays later. Georgia defeated Georgia 17–10.

: 170–90

Walker helped his Georgia Bulldogs win their 12–0 record when the Associated Press ranked University of Georgia No. 1 at the end of the season. Pittsburgh's 312nd first-place votes to 5812 were received in a poll of 5812. Walker and his allies were also voted No. According to Pitt's three-place votes, Georgia received 36 first-place votes to Pitt's three by the United Press International Poll, giving the Georgia with 36 first-place votes to Pitt's three.

: 190, 201

Walker and company took over early in the season by scoring early and often against Tennessee (44–0) and the Cal Golden Bears (27–13). Walker rushed for 161 yards on 30 attempts against the Volunteers. On September 12, Walker rushed 35 times for 167 yards against California.

And though Walker was able to push, shove, and get to the Clemson defense by rushing 28 times for 111 yards, it wasn't enough to beat 9 turnovers (including two by Walker) by the Bulldogs in the loss to the Tigers. Georgia was able to recover by blanking South Carolina 24–0 on September 26, when sophomore Walker ran for 176 yards on 36 attempts. At the half, Georgia led just 3–0, but Walker opened things up for the Bulldogs in the third quarter by scoring on touchdown runs of 3 and 8 yards to put the Gamecocks away.

The Bulldogs defeated Ole Miss (35-77), Vanderbilt (53–21), Kentucky (21–0), and Temple (49–3). Walker finished with 265 yards on 41 attempts and a touchdown against Ole Miss on October 10. Unlike Vanderbilt, Walker rushed 39 times for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He scored a career-high 4 touchdowns against Temple while rushing 23 times for 112 yards.

In Jacksonville, seventh-ranked Georgia and Walker fell behind 14–0, but the Florida Gators came back to win in a repeat score of last season's game, 26-21. Walker completed a career-high 47 yards while still scoring four touchdowns. The Bulldogs completed the regular season at home against nearby rivals: the Auburn Tigers (November 14) and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (December 5). The Tigers thrashed coach Pat Dye's Tigers 24-13, clinching their second SEC championship. During the game, Walker pounded out 165 yards on 37 rushes. Walker's 2-yard touchdown run gave the Bulldogs a commanding 24–7 lead in the third quarter. Walker won by 36 yards and 4 touchdowns over Georgia Tech in a 44–7 victory.

Georgia (10–1) was ranked No. 1 in the 8-game winning streak. When they met Pittsburgh, they were the country's second-best 10-1 (also 10-1), ranked No. 1). In the 1982 Sugar Bowl, ten people were in the tenth of the bowl. The Bulldogs lost 20-24. Walker had 25 rushes for 84 yards and led UGA in receptions with three catches for 53 yards. In the 2nd quarter, he bolted 8 yards for a touchdown, giving Georgia a 7-0 lead. Walker carried Pitt to a 10–7 lead in the third quarter after a 30-yard Dan Marino touchdown pass, giving Georgia a 14-10 lead going into the 4th quarter. Marino found Pittsburgh quarterback John Brown for a 33-yard touchdown pass with 0:35 seconds remaining in the game, with Georgia's 20–17 lead late in the game.

The Bulldogs got poor news when Walker suffered a fractured right thumb in practice on August 21, 1982, the season opener against defending national champion Clemson. He was predicted to be out of action for three to six weeks. Walker's right thumb was on display when the two teams met on September 6. Walker was primarily used as a decoy and rushed 11 times for 20 yards in this tight game. As the Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 13–7, the Georgia defense limited the Tigers to 249 total yards of offense.

On September 9, Georgia confronted Brigham Young at home. Walker, who recovered from his thumb injury, rushed 31 times for 124 yards against the Cougars. Starting with a 21-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, BYU's Steve Young connected with Scott Collie on a 21-yard touchdown pass to give Brigham Young a 14-07 lead going into the final period. However, Walker rallied the Bulldogs after they led them on two scoring drives that gave Georgia the victory, 17–14. To tie the game, he scored on a 1-yard touchdown run late in the game. Later in the game, Walker converted on a massive 4th-and-1, which allowed Georgia kicker Kevin Butler to make a 44-yard field goal in the game's closing seconds. Butler's kick was worth three minutes in all, and his 23-yard breakaway run was the catalyst.

While wearing his cast, Walker had 32 rushes, 143 yards, and 1 touchdown against the Gamecocks.

Georgia defeated Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Memphis State in October. Walker rushed 39 times for 215 yards and a touchdown as the Bulldogs defeated Mississippi St. 29–22. Georgia defeated Ole Miss 33-10, as Walker rushed 24 times for 149 yards and 3 touchdowns. Georgia defeated Vanderbilt 27-13 on October 16, 2010. Walker went for 172 yards and a touchdown on 38 attempts against the Commodores.

Georgia defeated Kentucky (27–14) and Florida State (334–3) on October 29, bringing the total number to 8-0 going into the Florida game in Jacksonville. Walker carried a heavy workload against Kentucky for 152 yards, rushing 34 times. In the second quarter, the Wildcats led 10–3 when Walker raced 64 yards to paydirt on a screen pass, reducing the deficit to 14-10. Walker had 79 receiving yards on three catches. Walker set a new SEC career scoring record when the Bulldogs thrashed the Tigers by 31 points in Georgia's match against Memphis St. He finished with 219 yards on 33 attempts and 2 touchdowns, extending Memphis St.'s losing streak to 15 games.

Georgia defeated Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech to finish a flawless 11–0 regular season in November. The country's best-ranked team is ranked No. 1. In a 44–0 Georgia victory, Walker defeated Florida by scoring three touchdowns. During this shutout, he ran 35 times for 219 yards.

On November 13, Georgia faced the Auburn Tigers in a slugfest at Jordan–Hare Stadium. Walker led UGA by 19–14 on a 20-yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter. Georgia hung on to win, but Walker finished with 31 rushes for 177 yards, including a 47-yard field run and two touchdowns.

Georgia defeated the yellow jackets 38–18 in Walker's last regular-season game at the University of Georgia. In the first quarter, Walker broke five tackles and sprinted 59 yards for a touchdown. In the 3rd quarter, the Bulldogs scored 17 points, as well as a 1-yard touchdown run by Walker. He had 27 rushes for 162 yards. The No. 1 was defeated in the No. 4 round, with the No. 4 advancing. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs over the No. 2 in a no. 1 rankings. In the Sugar Bowl, two individuals ranked Penn State Nittany Lions.

Georgia won its third SEC Championship thanks to Walker's leadership.

Walker scored one last time in his UGA career as he dropped into the end zone from 1 yard out with 10:37 remaining in the third quarter. At 20–17, Penn State's lead was reduced to three. quarterback Todd Blackledge completed a 46-yard touchdown pass to wideout Gregg Garrity, who answered 21 seconds later. Penn State defeated 27–23 and captured the national championship by a unanimous vote in both the AP and UPI polls. Against the Mark Robinson-led PSU defense, Walker rushed 28 times for 102 yards and caught a pass for 15 yards.

Professional career

Walker signed with the New Jersey Generals in 1983, when Oklahoma oil tycoon J. Walter Duncan sold the team to Donald Trump after the 1983 season. Walker's joint venture of McDonald's and Adidas resulted in only one major promotional bid.

The NFL had initially followed the NFL and suspended underclassmen from playing. However, league officials determined that the rule would never stand up in court and that it would be dismissed. Walker signed a personal services deal with Duncan, which was later transferred to Trump in order to circumvent the league's $1.8 million salary ceiling. Later, similar arrangements were made with other college students. Despite the fact that this step was litigated in court, Walker and the USFL won, according to Walker and the USFL.

In 1983 and 1985, Walker captured the USFL rushing championship. Walker had 5,562 yards passing in 1,143 attempts, average 4.87 yards, over the course of his USFL career. In 1983, he passed for 1,812 yards in 18 games. His rushing yardage dropped to 1,339 yards in his second season, but he did catch passes for more than 500 yards, giving him over 1,800 yards in total offense.

Walker, who ran for 2,411 yards in 1985, won the USFL rushing title by a margin of 1,050 yards over Mike Rozier (who had 1,361 yards), with Bill Johnson (1,261 yards) placing third, and Gary Anderson and Kelvin Bryant finishing in a dead heat for fourth (with 1,207 yards each).

Walker's NFL rights were won by the Dallas Cowboys, who were aware of his earlier interest in playing for them in the fifth round (114th overall) of the 1985 NFL Draft.

After George Rogers and Earl Campbell teamed with the 1984 New Orleans Saints, he was signed by the Cowboys and moved to fullback, so he could share backfield with Tony Dorsett, becoming the second Heisman backfield tandem in NFL history. Because Dorsett's playing time would be limited, and this move created tension, as well as Walker's $5 million five-year deal was more than his $4.5 million five-year contract. In the 31–28 victory over the New York Giants in the season opener, Walker rushed for the game-winning touchdown with a minute to spare. He had a franchise-record 292 yards of total offense, as well as the NFL's longest run of the year with an 84-yard touchdown and an 84-yard touchdown reception in the week 15 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Walker told Cowboys' management that he had been switched around between three different positions (running back, fullback, wide receiver) and that Dorsett had more carries in 1987. He'll be the team's top running back, with 12 games (11 starts) and 8 touchdowns, while others have 891 passing yards, 715 receiving yards, and 8 touchdowns. Dorsett played in 12 games (including two starts) and had two healthy DNP (Did Not Play), which would make him want to trade him to the Denver Broncos.

Walker began playing for football in 1988, becoming a one-man team and earning 1,514 rushing yards and 505 receiving yards, while playing seven positions: halfback, fullback, tight end, H-back, wide receiver, both in the slot and as a flanker. He was the tenth player in NFL history to reach more than 2,000 combined rushing and receiving yards in a season. He won two consecutive Pro Bowls (1987 and 1988), earning two consecutive Pro Bowls (1987 and 1988).

The Cowboys traded Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for a total of five players (linebacker Jesse Solomon, defensive back Issiac Holt, running back Darrin Nelson, defensive end Alex Stewart), as well as six future draft picks. If a player were cut, Minnesota would leave Dallas if they were cut (which led to Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson).

Some believed Walker's move to Minnesota was originally seen as the Vikings' "missing piece" for a Super Bowl bid, but as the Cowboys' fortunes soared and the Vikings' faded, it became perhaps the most lopsided market in NFL history. "Herschel Mania" erupted from the moment he arrived in Minneapolis. Walker made his debut against the Green Bay Packers after a single 212 hours of studying 12 offensive plays.

After four consecutive losses and 14 of the previous 18 games with the Packers, he received three standing ovations from the record metrodome crowd of 62,075, resulting in a Vikings win. "The walker was never used properly by the coaching brain trust," Scout.com reports. He is named "Herschel the Turkey," a mock award given out by the Star Tribune newspaper to inept Minnesota sports stars.

The Philadelphia Eagles signed Walker in 1992 in the hopes of assisting them in winning the Super Bowl after three seasons in Minnesota. He had his best season as a professional since 1988, rushing for 1,070 yards. He made history by becoming the first NFL player to have one-play gains of 90 or more yards rushing, receiving, and kick-returning in a single season in 1994. He spent three seasons in Philadelphia before the Eagles cut free agent Ricky Watters.

As a third-down back, the New York Giants signed Walker in 1995 to a three-year deal worth $4.8 million. In 1995, Walker led the Giants to 45 kick returns at 21.5 yards per yard, his first season with the team.

In 1996, he rejoined the Dallas Cowboys as a kickoff return specialist and third-down back. He also played fullback, but mainly as a ball-handler rather than a blocker out of I-Form and pro-sets. At the end of the 1997 season, Walker resigned.

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