The B.B. Walker Shoe Company was a major diversified industrial enterprise founded by Bartlette Burkhead ("B.B.") Walker in 1947, starting as a shoe wholesaling sideline before being incorporated in 1952. Built on Walker's reputation as a "brilliant business leader" known for his "unorthodox" business style , the company quickly grew from manufacturing a single men's work shoe into a national powerhouse. By 1964, it achieved $9 million in annual sales (roughly $84 million today) , produced 172 varieties of footwear , and had sales outlets across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. By 1973, the company employed 1,800 workers in six plants, operating as a parent company for five subsidiaries.