Herschel Walker -- My Son's a Cheerleading Champ ... And I'm Damn Proud!

Herschel Walker's son is following in his father's supremely athletic footsteps ... only he's not on the football field ... he's a state champion male cheerleader ... and his dad couldn't be prouder!

The former NFL star was out in D.C. where he was bragging about his son's Texas cheerleading squad winning the NCA National Championship in Dallas last month.

"I never knew how athletic those people were," Walker says ... "Now, I've been spending a lot of time with it. And I've gotten involved with it."

Walker is a full-on "Cheer Dad" -- and spends a lot of time mentoring the cheerleaders.

His son Christian is a star on the team ... and after watching the kid twist and tumble in his gymnastics workouts, it's obvious he's got his dad's athletic genes.

So, we had to ask Herschel ... do you think Christian is good enough to make the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad one day?

You gotta hear his answer -- it's pretty great.