Everybody’s got a story. Including Walton himself. Bill Walton, who was one of the best college basketball players ever, won the 1978 NBA MVP award and a two NBA championships with the Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics, has died Monday at the age of 71. Walton passed after a prolonged bout with cancer, the NBA announced.
Born on Nov. 5, 1952 in La Mesa, California, Walton’s basketball career began in grade school at Blessed Sacrament in San Diego, where he learned from a fireman named Frank Graziano, who eventually convinced him to forget about football and focus on basketball.
Early in his high school career, Walton broke his ankle, leg and multiple bones in his foot and underwent knee surgery, which began his lifelong battle with injuries. After his sophomore year, he had a growth spurt that shot him from 6-foot-1 to 6-foot-7 (he would eventually grow to be 6-foot-11), which turned him into a big man instead of a guard.
What a fascinating guy…What an incredible basketball player.
Inarguably he’s one of the handful of greatest collegian hoopsters ever, arguably topping the list.
In the NCAA title game against Memphis State he is credited with making 21 of 22 shots. Which is true, but not the whole stat line actually. He dunked four of four more which were waived off because of the silly anti-Alcindor no dunk rule then in place.
Hooks. Turn arounds. Lay ups.
Sure 6-8 Ronnie Robinson was not match. But, in a title game, 25/26 against Red Klotz would be impressive.
The Bruins didn’t win the title one season during Walton’s three years. In the four part 30 for 30 on Walton — watch it — he offers an explanation.
It was the early 70s, like most his age, Walton and some of his teammates were getting stoned. Apparently the overbearingly tight-assed John Wooden caught wind of it. One day before practice, the coach confronted several players, saving Walton for last.
Walton’s first season with the Celtics was magical.
He received a standing ovation in his first game at the Boston Garden, played in a career-high 80 games, won Sixth Man of the Year and helped the team win its second championship in three seasons, and the last of the Larry Bird era. Walton’s presence is in part why the 1986 Celtics are still regarded as one of the best teams of all time.
That title turned out to be Walton’s last hurrah. He played just 22 more games, and made his final appearance during Game 6 of the 1987 Finals, when the Celtics were eliminated by the Lakers. A short-lived comeback attempt in 1990 went nowhere.
Walton finished his career with two championships, an MVP, a Finals MVP, a Sixth Man of the Year award, two All-Star appearances, two All-NBA Team nods (one First, one Second) and two All-Defensive First Team honors. Additionally, his No. 32 was retired by the Trail Blazers in 1989. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993, and was selected to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team in 1996 and 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
Following his retirement, Walton became a successful broadcaster, working with CBS, NBC, ESPN and the Los Angeles Clippers before stepping away in 2009 due to back problems.
A few years later, he returned to work with the Sacramento Kings on a part-time basis, then re-joined ESPN and the Pac-12 Network, where he had still been calling games this season. He won an Emmy in 2001 and was known for his entertaining, and at times incoherent, style.
“In life, being so self-conscious, red hair, big nose, freckles and goofy, nerdy-looking face and can’t talk at all. I was incredibly shy and never said a word,” Walton said in 2017. “Then, when I was 28, I learned how to speak. It’s become my greatest accomplishment of my life and everybody else’s biggest nightmare.”
Tributes flooded in for Walton following the news of his death. None had a negative word to say, and the love and affection for the big man was perhaps best summed up by his friend Abdul-Jabbar’s note, which read, in part: “the world feels so much heavier now… he was the best of us.”
But even in death, the last word should be reserved for Walton, given his propensity for language:
“The perfect thing about basketball is that it is the most complete, surreal and special game of all, where all you have to do is wait for the opening tip and then each and every player, each and every component, has a chance to make a contribution on every single play. Basketball, yeah, shine a light.”