Bill Walton was truly larger than life. And was actually larger, than he was known in life. Bill did not like the idea of being known as a seven-footer, so in his basketball playing career he intentionally had himself in print listed shorter than he actually was. He was always listed at 6’11” when in reality he was 7′ 2”. He passed away on May 27th at the age of 71 from a long battle with cancer. But, Walton had many battles in his life, and we are going to mention some of them, along with the triumphs, as our tribute to the life and career of one of the greatest basketball players ever to get two huge feet on a court.

1. Bill had 3 siblings; Andy, Bruce, and Cathy. Their Mother Gloria was a Librarian, and Father Ted was a Social Worker and Music Teacher. Therefore when the children were in Junior High, Ted formed a family band. In this band Cathy played the drums, flute and tuba, Andy the saxophone, Bruce the trombone, and Bill the baritone.

2) Bill played high school basketball with his older brother Bruce Walton, who went 6’6” weighing 250 pounds for Helix High School. When Bill was getting roughed up, Bruce returned the favor.

“When they would begin to rough up Bill, I would look at coach and he would give me a nod”, recalled Bruce. “then when the referee wasn’t looking, I would give the player an elbow and let him know that the skinny guy was his kid brother.”

3) Walton’s struggle with injury and pain began while at Helix High School, where he broke an ankle, a leg, several bones in his feet, and underwent knee surgery.

4) Between his sophomore and junior years of high school (age 15–16), Walton grew from 6 foot 1 inches tall to 6 foot 7 inches tall.

5) While Walton was in high school in 1967, the NBA expansion San Diego Rockets came to town. The Rockets had no set practice facility and would often play pick-up games at Helix High School. Rocket players quickly learned that to get into the Helix gym they could call the teenage Walton, who had his own gym key.

Walton recalled Elvin Hayes calling and saying to his mother, “Tell Billy, Big E is calling and we need him to open the gym tonight. I said, ‘Mom, that’s Big E! Give me the phone!’ I was never so embarrassed in my life.

6) Walton led Helix to 49 consecutive victories in his two varsity seasons. Helix won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championship in both 1969 and 1970, finishing 29–2 in 1968–69 and 33–0 in 1969–70.

“It was a dream come true to be a part of a special team”, Walton recalled. “Helix is where it all began. It was a humbling honor and privilege to be on the same squad as true legends Monroe Nash, Wilbur Strong, Phil Edwards, and Bruce Menser. I’m the luckiest guy on earth.”

7) Walton averaged 29 points and 25 rebounds, as Helix finished 33–0 in his senior season in 1969–70. Walton made 384 of 490 shot attempts, 78.3%, which is still the all-time national record to this day. In addition, Walton’s 825 rebounds that season ranks No 3 all-time and his 25 rebounds per game in a season ranks No. 7 all-time.

8) Walton had loyally followed UCLA‘s basketball team on the radio in both high school and elementary school. He was recruited by many colleges, but quickly accepted UCLA’s scholarship offer to play basketball for the Bruins and Coach Wooden. Wooden became a lifetime mentor to Walton.

9) Walton played for UCLA under Coach Wooden from 1971 to 1974. His older brother Bruce played football at UCLA, enrolling a year ahead of Bill. Bill Walton led the Bruins to two consecutive 30–0 seasons and the NCAA men’s basketball record 88-game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak that lasted almost five years, in which Walton’s high school, UCLA freshman (freshmen were ineligible for the varsity at that time) and UCLA varsity teams did not lose a game from the middle of his junior year of high school to the middle of his senior year in college.

10) With Walton, UCLA won the NCAA Championship in 1972 over Florida State and again in 1973 with an 87–66 win over Memphis State in which Walton famously made 21 of 22 field-goal attempts and scored 44 points.

Walton recalled a moment in that game, “Coach Wooden looked at me and said, ‘Walton, I used to think you were a good player  until you missed that one shot,’”

11) Walton’s political personality was alive in his collegiate years on the UCLA campus. “One of the saddest days for Coach Wooden was the day he came down and had to bail me out of jail after I got arrested in the anti-Vietnam (War) protest.”

12) In Walton’s senior year, UCLA’s 88-game winning streak ended with a 71–70 loss at Notre Dame on January 19, 1974. Walton played wearing a back brace, as he had suffered a major back injury in a fall against Washington State the week before. He was undercut by a Washington State player and broke two bones in his spine, which remained damaged until corrective surgery in 2009. Walton missed a 12-foot shot off an in-bounds pass that would have won the game as time expired.

13) In his 87 career games at UCLA, Walton shot 65.1% from the field, averaging 20.3 points, 15.7 rebounds, and 5.5 assists. UCLA was 86–4 in Walton’s three seasons.

Walton kept a long lasting friendship with Coach Wooden and once recalled the following to coachwooden.com “Coach Wooden never talked about winning and losing, but rather about the effort to win. He rarely talked about basketball, but generally about life. He never talked about strategy, statistics or plays, but rather about people and character. Coach Wooden never tired of telling us that once you become a good person, then you have a chance of becoming a good basketball player.”

14) Walton was the number one overall pick by the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers in the 1974 NBA Draft. As a rookie in 1974–75, Walton averaged a double-double 12.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.7 blocks in 35 games. That season the Trail Blazers finished 38–44, a far cry from 86-4.

15) In 1975–76, Walton averaged 16.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.6 blocks in 51 games as Portland finished 37–45. Walton’s first two seasons in Portland were marred by chronic foot injuries. Also, Walton badly sprained an ankle, broke his left wrist twice, dislocated two toes, dislocated two fingers, broke a toe and injured his leg in a jeep accident.

16) Walton played in 65 games in his third season with Portland and they made the post-season as the 3rd seed with a record of 49-33. In the Finals they lost the first 2 games to the heavily favored Philadelphia 76ers, but came back and won the next 4 to capture the title. Walton was named the Finals’ Most Valuable Player with averages of 18.5 points, 19.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 3.7 blocks.

“Bill Walton is the best player for a big man who ever played the game of basketball.” Philadelphia 76ers Coach Gene Shue.

17) The following season, the 1977–78 Trail Blazers won 50 of their first 60 games, as Walton averaged 18.9 points, 13.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.5 blocks in 58 games. Walton then suffered a broken foot, ending his regular season. Walton returned for the 1978 NBA Playoffs. He was injured and lost for the remainder of the playoffs in the second game of the first-round series.

18) During the off-season, Walton demanded to be traded, citing unethical and incompetent treatment of his and other players’ injuries by the Blazers’ front office. He did not get his wish and sat out the entire 1979 season in protest. 

19) On May 13, 1979, Walton signed as a veteran free agent with the San Diego Clippers; the Portland Trail Blazers received Kevin Kunnert, Kermit Washington and a 1980 first-round draft pick, that became Mike Gminski as compensation ordered by the NBA. Walton reportedly agreed to a seven-year, $7 million contract.

“When you fail in your hometown, that’s as bad as it gets, and I love my hometown”, said Walton of his tenure in San Diego. “I wish we had NBA basketball here, and we don’t because of me. It’s my greatest failure as a professional in my entire life, I could not get the job done in my hometown. It is a stain and stigma on my soul that is indelible. I’ll never be able to wash that off, and I carry it with me forever.”

20) After playing only 14 games from 1979 to 1982, he played 33 games in the 82-83 season under doctor’s orders to play about one game per week. He played in 55 games in the 83-84 season, then-career-high 67 in the 84-85 season, by which time the Clippers had relocated to Los Angeles.

21) On September 6, 1985, Walton was traded by the Los Angeles Clippers to the Boston Celtics for Cedrick Maxwell and a 1986 1st round draft pick that became Arvydas Sabonis.

22) Walton’s first time in a Celtics uniform came in an exhibition game at the Boston Garden, Walton received a one-minute standing ovation from the Boston home crowd.

23) At 32 Walton’s role had changed. He went from being both the cake and the ice cream to the icing on the Celtic cake. That team was already loaded with the likes of Bird, Parish, McHale, Ainge and Johnson. Therefore Walton was able to play in a career high 80 games. Walton averaged 7.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.2 blocks in 19 minutes. It was because of this he received another award to add to his mantle, the 1986 Sixth Man of the Year.

24) He became the only player to have won an NBA Finals MVP, Sixth Man Award, and regular season MVP.

“It wasn’t important to me because I had no say in the personnel decisions, but what I was impressed with was Bill Walton’s character”, Parish said of Walton joining the Celtics. “He thought enough of me to make sure I was comfortable with him being on the team. That’s why I have the utmost respect for Bill Walton and that’s the main reason why he was my inductee into the Hall of Fame.”

25) Walton was injured again in the 1986–87 regular season, but returned in time for the 1987 Play-offs only playing in 10 games. Walton then spent the entire 87-88 season on the Celtics’ injured list. He attempted a comeback in February 1990 but because of the many injuries, he retired as a player. Overall, Walton played 90 total games for the Celtics.

Walton, reflecting on his career, told GQ.com in an interview: “I loved basketball. And I was going to go until I couldn’t go anymore. I had no desire to ever stop playing. I’ve never met anybody who stopped playing voluntarily. I ground my body up. I’ve had 37 (38 now) orthopedic operations. I ground my feet up into dust. I’ve got a new knee. I’ve got a new spine. I’m the lucky one, in that I never thought going through all of it that I would be healthy at the end. And I almost wasn’t. But I’m all better now.”

26) Overall, Walton played 468 games in his NBA career. He averaged a career double-double of 13.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, with 3.4 assists and 2.2 blocked shots, averaging 28 minutes. He shot 52.1% from the floor for his career. Walton’s injuries and surgeries limited his career, and counting his 1978–1979 year-long holdout, Walton played in only 44% of the regular season games in his 13-year career.

Walton said about his speech issues and subsequent career, “I’m a stutterer. I never spoke to anybody. I lived most of my life by myself. But as soon as I got on the court I was fine. But 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. 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.”

27) Walton overcame a stuttering problem at age 28 with the help of Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman. He overcame that, and turned it into a 19 year broadcasting career for over 10 different companies.

28) In 2001, Walton received an Emmy Award for “Best Live Sports Television Broadcast”. In 2018, he won the CoSIDA Dick Enberg Award.

29) His son Luke Walton became an NBA player, winning both the 2009 and 2010 NBA Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers. The titles made Walton and him the first NBA father-son pair to have both won multiple NBA championships.

30) He was particularly fond of the Grateful Dead, whose concerts he started attending in 1967, while he was still in high school. He attended more than 850 Grateful Dead concerts, including traveling with the band to Egypt for their famous 1978 performance before the Pyramids, even joining the band on drums.

31) Walton had cameo appearances in the films 88 and 1, Celtic Pride, Little Nicky, Semi-Pro, and the 1984 film Ghostbusters.

32) Bill’s older brother Bruce Walton went on from UCLA to the Dallas Cowboys and thus, are the only brothers in history to ever play in a Super Bowl and win an NBA Championship.

All of us at the WeLikeSportz family thank Bill Walton for his work both on the court and behind the mic. We, like the rest of the sports world ,mourn his passing, respect his family’s privacy, and are uplifting him to his friends and our fans in this trying time for all.

Resource Credit; Wikipedia and the Associated Press

Photo Credit; Lima News, On This Day, Wikipedia

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