Bill Walton

Walton in August 2008
No. 32, 5
Center
Personal information
Born	(1952-11-05) November 5, 1952 (age 59) La Mesa, California
Nationality	American
High school	Helix (La Mesa, California)
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
College	UCLA (1970–1974)
NBA Draft	1974 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers
Pro career	1974–1987
Career history
1974–1978	Portland Trail Blazers
1979–1985	San Diego / Los Angeles Clippers
1985–1987	Boston Celtics
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA Champion (1977, 1986) NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (1977) NBA Most Valuable Player (1978) NBA Sixth Man of the Year (1986) 2× NBA All-Star (1976–1977) All-NBA First Team (1978) All-NBA Second Team (1977) 2× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1977–1978) 2× NCAA Champion (1972–1973) 2× NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (1972–1973) 3× Naismith College Player of the Year (1972–1974) 3× USBWA Player of the Year (1972–1974) 3× Adolph Rupp Trophy (1972–1974) 2× Helms Foundation College Player of the Year (1972–1973) 3× Sporting News College Player of the Year (1972–1974) 2× AP College Player of the Year (1972–1973) 3× Consensus NCAA All-American First Team (1972–1974) NBA 50th Anniversary Team #32 Retired by the Portland Trail Blazers #32 retired by UCLA
Career NBA statistics
Points	6,215 (13.3 ppg)
FG%	52.1
Blocks	1,034 (2.2 bpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player

William Theodore "Bill" Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head",^[1] as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while leading the Bruins to two Division I national titles. He then went on to have a prominent career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was a league Most Valuable Player (MVP) and won two NBA championships. His professional career was significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries. Walton was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 10, 1993^[2] and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame that same year. He is the father of current Cleveland Cavaliers forward Luke Walton.

Early life and college career[link]

Walton at UCLA.

Walton was born in La Mesa, California, the son of Gloria Anne (née Hickey) and William Theodore "Ted" Walton.^[3] His listed adult playing height was 6 feet 11 inches; it has been reported that Walton was actually taller (7 feet 2 inches, or more), but did not like being categorized as a seven-footer.^[4][5]

He played high school basketball at Helix High School.^[6] At the age of 17, Walton played for the United States men's national basketball team at the 1970 FIBA World Championship.^[7] He played college basketball for John Wooden at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1971 to 1974, winning the national title in 1972 over Florida State and again in 1973 with an 87–66 win over Memphis State in which Walton made an impressive 21 of 22 field goal attempts and scored 44 points. The Walton-led 1971–72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30–0, in the process winning its games by an average margin of more than 30 points. He was the backbone of two consecutive 30–0 seasons and was also part of UCLA's 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.

Bill Walton was the 1973 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Walton also received the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year as the top college basketball player in the country three years in a row while attending UCLA, at the same time earning Academic All-American honors three times. Some college basketball historians rate Walton as the greatest who ever played the game at the college level.^[8] In Bill Walton's senior year during the 1973–74 season, the school's 88-game winning streak ended with a 71–70 loss to the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. During the same season, UCLA's record seven consecutive national titles was broken when North Carolina State defeated the Bruins 80–77 in double overtime in the NCAA semi-finals. With Walton's graduation in 1974 and legendary Bruin coach John Wooden's retirement after UCLA's 1975 national title, the unprecedented UCLA dynasty came to an end.

NBA career[link]

Portland Trail Blazers[link]

On leaving college, Walton was drafted by the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association^[9] and also taken as the number one overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1974 NBA Draft^[9] and was hailed as the savior of the Portland franchise. He signed with the Trail Blazers but his first two seasons were marred by injury (at different times he broke his nose, foot, wrist and leg) and the Blazers missed the playoffs both years. It was not until the 1976–77 season that he was healthy enough to play 65 games and, spurred by new head coach Jack Ramsay, the Trail Blazers became the Cinderella team of the NBA. Walton led the NBA in both rebounds per game and blocked shots per game that season, and he was selected to the NBA All-Star Game, but did not participate due to an injury. Walton was named to the NBA's First All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA Second Team for his regular season accomplishments. In the postseason, Walton led Portland to a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals (arguably holding his own against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the series)^[10] and went on to help the Trail Blazers to the NBA title over the favored Philadelphia 76ers despite losing the first two games of the series. Walton was named the Finals MVP.

The following year, the Blazers won 50 of their first 60 games before Walton suffered a broken foot in what turned out to be the first in a string of foot and ankle injuries that cut short his career. He nonetheless won the league MVP that season (1978) and the Sporting News NBA MVP, as well. He played in his only All-Star Game in 1978 and was named to both the NBA's First All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA First Team. Walton returned to action for the playoffs, but was reinjured in the second game of a series against the Seattle SuperSonics. Without Walton to lead them, Portland lost the series to Seattle in six games. As it turned out, Walton would never play for the Trail Blazers again. During the offseason, 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 1978–79 season in protest, signing with the San Diego Clippers when he became a free agent in 1979.^[11]

Later career[link]

Walton spent several seasons alternating between the court and the disabled list with his hometown San Diego Clippers, including missing the entire 1980-1981 season due to surgery performed on his left foot. After the 1984–85 campaign, Walton called on two of the league's premier teams, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. After several players on the Celtics said they liked the idea of having Walton as a teammate backing up Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, Red Auerbach made the deal happen. One anecdote that particularly illustrates Walton's decision to choose the Celtics over the Lakers involves Larry Bird, who happened to be in Auerbach's office when Walton called. Bird said that if Walton felt healthy enough to play that it was good enough for him, as opposed to Lakers GM Jerry West, who was hedging his interest in Walton pending a doctor's report. Boston acquired Walton by sending popular forward Cedric Maxwell to the Clippers along with a first-round draft pick. Providing a reliable backup to McHale and Parish, Walton played in a career-high 80 games and received the NBA Sixth Man Award that season en route to the NBA Championship, becoming the only player to have ever won an NBA Finals MVP, Sixth Man Award, and regular season MVP.

1987 NBA Finals

Walton injured himself again the following season, but returned for the 1987 playoffs. He spent the 1987–88 season on the injured list. He attempted a comeback in February 1990, but injury intervened and he retired from the game. His ankle problems became so severe years later that he had both his ankles surgically fused. His saga of injury and failed rehabs was connected to the use of pain killers by the doctor who was assigned to his case.^{[citation needed]} Walton has said repeatedly in his broadcasts that he is just as much to blame for taking the medication as the doctor was for giving it to him. Yet his experience with injuries and the circumstances surrounding them have come to serve as a warning for professional athletes who undergo major injury, as well as being an interesting case study for medical ethics.^{[original research?]} In a June 8, 2010 interview on The Dan Patrick Show, Walton admitted to contemplating suicide for a time due to the constant pain resulting from injuries sustained during his NBA career.^[12] His injuries, along with his 1978–1979 year-long protest, gave him an unpleasant, if not odd, record. Walton holds the record for the most games missed during an NBA playing career, when taking into account the number of years he was officially listed as a player on a team roster.^{[citation needed]}

Walton was inducted into both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. Walton also had his number 32 retired by the Blazers in 1989. His number 32 was also retired by UCLA, in a joint ceremony with fellow basketball legend, number 33, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor). He is also enshrined in the UCLA Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time. He was added to the San Diego Hall of Champions in 1990.

Broadcasting[link]

After his retirement as a player, Walton overcame a stuttering problem^[13] to become a successful and controversial NBA color commentator for NBC (1990–2002), Los Angeles Clippers (1990–2002) and ABC/ESPN (2002–2009).

Walton in July 2008

Walton's trademark catchphrases included, "That's a terrible call! Terrible," "Where in the world is [x]?" (for a player who has disappeared from a game), "What is a foul?", "Dial a violation," "He couldn't even inbound the ball!", "Throw it down, big man! Throw it down!", and "Basketball is a game played by men competing for the ultimate prize". Also, after a predominantly one-handed player made a basket going to his strong hand, Walton would often summarize the action and then say, "He's left-handed by the way Marv" or "Someone should tell player |x| that player |y| is left-handed and promises to be so for the remainder of the game," indicating that perhaps the defender should have defended that side of the player. In addition, his commentary during games was notable for his frequent use of hyperbole. Walton typically was paired with Steve "Snapper" Jones for NBA games because he and Jones had a point-counterpoint banter during games. Despite their frequent on-air argumentative banter they are actually good friends, as was shown in Walton's short lived 2003 TV series Bill Walton's Long Strange Trip.

After nineteen years working in broadcasting, he left ESPN in November 2009, as the result of back problems dating back to an injury suffered while playing at UCLA. Following surgery on his back, Walton returned to broadcasting as a part-time commentator for the Sacramento Kings and the Boston Celtics.

Personal life[link]

Luke Walton, son of Bill Walton

Walton currently resides in his hometown of San Diego with his wife Lori. He and his first wife, Susie, have four sons: Adam, Nathan, Luke, and Chris. Luke, although not as tall as his father, played at the collegiate level for the University of Arizona and now plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers as a small forward. From 2003 to 2012, Luke played for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won in both the 2009 and 2010 NBA Finals, making Bill and Luke the first father-son pair to have both won multiple NBA championships. Another of Walton's sons, Chris, played for San Diego State University. Nate, his middle son, played basketball at Princeton University but then entered the corporate world and earned his MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. (Bill Walton attended Stanford Law School for two years but never graduated.) Nate was on the ballot for the 2003 California Recall Election, receiving 1,697 votes. Walton's other son, Adam, also played NCAA basketball at Louisiana State University.

Walton is a well-known fan of the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, Neil Young, Phish, and Bob Dylan. He attended more than 650^[14] Grateful Dead concerts, including traveling with the band to Egypt for its famous 1978 performance before the Pyramids (joining the band on drums),^[15] quotes Dead lyrics in TV and radio interviews. To fellow Deadheads, Walton is fondly known as "Grateful Red" and the "Big Red Deadhead" and "World's Tallest Deadhead". In the video for "Touch of Grey", Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart is wearing a Celtics jacket that was given to him by Walton. In 2001, Bill Walton was inducted into The Grateful Dead Hall of Honor.

Walton expounds upon his music interests on his own satellite radio show, One More Saturday Night (named after the Dead song of the same name), heard during late prime time on Sirius Radio's Jam On and XM Radio's Grateful Dead channel. Walton has stated in his online introduction to his radio show column that he enjoys going to concerts alone because then he has fewer things in between him and reaching the omega point that all concert goers seek at shows.

Walton still has a committed relationship with the Celtics, if not professionally, as a fan. Despite the area where he grew up, and the team his son Luke plays for, Walton is careful to point out, "Even though I grew up in the heart of Laker country, the Celtics were always MY team". He keeps a picture of the floor of the old Boston Garden in his kitchen. Walton joined the Celtics broadcast crew for a West Coast road trip in 2011.

In 1990, Walton was inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface.^[16]

In popular culture[link]

Walton has cameo appearances in the films Celtic Pride, Little Nicky and Semi-Pro. Walton also appeared as Sven the Wise in the 2011 Capital One Visigoth SportsNet commercials.

Bill Walton is a playable character in the video games NBA Street Vol. 2 (2003), NBA Street V3 (2005), NBA 2K12 (2011), and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition (2011), and lent his voice to NBA 2K5 and NBA Shootout 2004.

Walton is parodied in a popular Twitter account (@NotBillWalton)^[17] entitled 'The Bill Walton Trip' that has been seen in the Washington Post^[18] and on live NCAA coverage discussed by fellow former UCLA great and NBA professional Marques Johnson.^[19] Due to the content and increased popularity of the feed, it was featured on ESPN.com Page 2^[20] and commented on by Bill Walton himself.^[21]

Further reading[link]

• Heisler, Mark (2003). Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-577-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bill Walton's official site
• Bill Walton's Historical Profile on NBA.com
• Hoopedia bio
• Bill Walton commentary on Pete Maravich
• Bill Walton statistics
• 1972–74 Oscar Robertson Trophy USBWA College Player of the Year