Inducted in 2017
Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigations
Executive, Various Industries
Member, Prep Board of Trustees (1969-1977)
First Chair, Prep Board of Trustees

Forty-eight years — nearly to the date — before his 2017 Fordham Prep Hall of Honor Induction, Walter Higgins '31 was present for another pivotal Prep event on a cold, damp late-November afternoon.  The location: the northeasternmost corner of the Rose Hill Campus. The occasion: the ceremonies marking the official start of the construction of “The New Prep Building,” or as it is known today, Shea Hall. 

The year 1969 was a time of great change —in our society, in our culture, and in our world. Our school, too, was on the verge of a new phase of its history. To quote an old Maroon tune, it was time to “do or die.” And so, along with the Cardinal and Father Provincial, other assembled dignitaries, and the hundreds who turned out for the festivities, it was only fitting that Walter J. Higgins, Class of 1931, one of Fordham Prep’s most loyal sons and true should be there — shovel in hand — to help break ground for the future:

Walter was born on July 24, 1924 in New York City. His father, Thomas Higgins Sr., was a wholesale cigar salesman who later would manage a printing plate manufacturing office. His mother, Lilian Costello Higgins, was a homemaker who had grown up in Connecticut. Walter grew up in Queens, New York with his brother Thomas Jr., attending grammar school there and briefly enrolling in Newtown High School in Elmhurst before the Higginses moved to the Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx, and Walter transferred to Fordham Prep. Thomas would follow in his brother’s footsteps, a member of the Class of 1939.

Wally, as he was known, loved everything about his Hughes Hall years. His classmates would remember him as an all-around “fine fellow,” as well as an outstanding athlete. While he played basketball during his time at Rose Hill, it was on the gridiron that he was truly a standout. A four-year player under the legendary Coach “Zev” Graham, with whom he would remain lifelong friends, Walter would captain the squad his senior year, and was honored with the title of “All-Scholastic Tackle.” Wally also chaired the Ring Committee, and was involved in planning other Prep social events throughout his four years. 

Graduating Fordham Prep in 1931 — although his diploma would read “St. John’s College High School,” the Prep’s legal name in those days — Higgins would attend Columbia University, earning his degree in 1935.

After Columbia, Higgins would go on to have a long and varied career. He was an agent for the FBI, worked for Gibbs & Cox Naval Architects, and finally served as head of security for Olympic Parking, overseeing the venues maintained by the New York Racing Authority. 

Throughout his adulthood, Higgins remained close to the Prep, a generous supporter of Alma Mater. Never would this be more true than in 1969, when Walter Higgins was tapped to be the first chairman of the newly-independent institution’s first Board of Trustees. It was an extraordinarily difficult and tenuous period in the school’s history, and without Higgins’ leadership and vision, it is certain that Fordham Prep would never have survived. The first of his duties: pulling together the support, resources, and personnel required to plan for the construction of the Prep’s new home. The Hughes Hall years had reached their end. 

Walter Higgins was married to Aileen Walsh Higgins, who had attended the Academy of Mt. St. Ursula and whose father, Eugene, had attended Fordham as a middle schooler in the now-defunct Fordham Grammar. Walter and Aileen raised five children: Joan, Burt, Walter Jr., Peter, and Timothy. Burt would attend the Prep in the early ’50s, and Walter Jr. would graduate Fordham Law in 1968. Walter and Aileen were the grandparents of 10, one of whom, Brendan Higgins, would continue the family legacy as a member of the Prep Class of 1994.

Walter Joseph Higgins would serve on Fordham Prep’s Board of Trustees through 1977 and would remain a trustee emeritus for the rest of his days. He passed away on May 14, 1992, joining Aileen who had passed two years earlier.

To this day, the Prep’s main gym, down at the very foundation of Shea Hall, is named the Higgins Gymnasium in Walter's memory — the perfect tribute for a one-time remarkable Prep athlete who would literally break ground and help lay the cornerstone for Fordham Prep as it exists today.