Walton was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, but his family lived a transient existence during his youth before settling north of Toronto, Ontario. They operated a restaurant/garage in Sutton, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the city. He inherited his nickname "Shakey" from his father Bobby, who would shake his head to throw off opponents as a hockey player in England.\n', '

He spent each of his first two years of junior hockey with the only two champions in the Metro Junior A League\'s brief history. He first attended St. Michael\'s College School on a partial scholarship. When the Majors\' famous hockey program was discontinued after the 1961–62 season, Walton and the rest of the players were transferred to Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School, where he scored 22 goals in 38 games for the Maroons in 1962–63.\n', '

He became a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs\' talent pipeline when he joined its Ontario Hockey Association farm team, the Marlboros, where he was the club\'s second leading scorer with 92 points (41 goals, 51 assists) in 53 games, while helping them win the league championship and Memorial Cup in 1964. He then earned back-to-back minor league Rookie of the Year honors, first with the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Professional Hockey League (CPHL) in 1965, then with the Calder Cup-winning Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 1966.\n', '

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