Bill Walton, legendary NBA player and broadcaster, dead at 71

Nypost ^ | 05.27.2024

[ChicagoConservative27]

Bill Walton, a former NBA MVP who then became a legendary broadcaster, died Monday following a battle with cancer, the league announced.

He was 71 years old.

“Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement “… I treasured our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and admired the time he took with every person he encountered.”

[af_vet_1981]

Coach Jack Ramsay, in 2010, called Walton the best Portland Trail Blazer, "hands down no question", Ramsay said. "Walton could do everything, he had great timing, complete vision of the floor, had excellent fundamentals and was a great passer, both in outlet passes and in the half court. He loved playing basketball, just loved it, practices, games ... especially away games. He loved to win on the opponent's court. And he had a great head, a very dedicated team player."[76] Of Walton's injuries, Ramsay added, "And that was very frustrating to both of us. To not be able to play was a crushing blow to him. And to me it was frustrating because I finally had a great team and a great player and it was all coming apart."[76]

"I'm here to try and make amends for the mistakes and errors of the past", Walton, said to the press in returning to Portland in 2009. "I regret that I wasn't a better person. A better player. I regret that I got hurt. I regret the circumstances in which I left the Portland Trail Blazers family. I just wish I could do a lot of things over, but I can't. So I'm here to apologize, to try and make amends, and to try and start over and make it better."[77]

Said Walton reflecting on his career: "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."[21]

"I would love to play one more game", Walton said he wished. "But then I would want to play another one. And another one. But I will take one."[78]

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 44% of the regular season games in his 13-year career.[11][48] His listed playing height was 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m); it has been reported that Walton was actually taller (7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) or more), but he does not like being categorized as a seven-footer.[79][80]


Walton is fondly known as "Grateful Red" and the "Big Red Deadhead" and "World's Tallest Deadhead".[116][117][118] In the video for "Touch of Grey", Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart is wearing a Celtics jacket given to him by Walton.

[ridesthemiles]

IS THE “BONE SPUR BILL”?????

[DAC21]

WOW RIP! Big UCLA fan back in his days. Not as much now but I hang out on a UCLA Sports board and the members got a kick out of him doing commentary for the PAC-12 games on TV. He was a hoot, and kind of weird at the same time.

[poinq]

The best thing about Bill is that he was a volunteer lab rat for the vegan experience. He had a an injury prone career. He died at 71. Keith Richards is going strong at 80. As long as you stay out of the swimming pool you live much longer as a rolling stone than as a vegan.

[GSWarrior]

Back in the 80s I was jogging in the Balboa Park area of San Diego near where Bill Walton lived. He drove by and waved at me. End of story.

[Burma Jones]

Once in about 1979, I was at a San Diego Clippers game with my best friend. This giant in street clothes was walking up the aisle toward us. My friend yelled “that’s Bill Walton!” So we jumped out into the aisle and got him to shake hands with us. We’re about 12.

[DoughtyOne]

Sadly, he was a very vocal Leftist at times, and I could never appreciate him.

That’s a weak spot for me.

He seems to have been liked by many people. That’s not something to be
dismissed totally.

[irishjuggler]

Without doing any googling whatsoever on the topic, I’m going to proffer a hypothesis and welcome comments pro & con of others’ personal observations. Hypothesis: really tall, large people don’t live as long as average sized people.

I ask this because when I was much young, I had a relative in a large senior living facility and we used visit once or month or so. I remember commenting to my parents, “Why is that all these old people seem so small?” And the response I got was, “Well, elderly people shrink.” But I remember saying, “Yeah, but do they really shrink that much? Where was the nonagenarian man who was 6’5” who shrunk down to 6’1”? Where was the nonagenarian woman who was 6’1” who shrunk down to 5’10”? Such people were MIA. Did they die young(er)? Did a larger frame correspond to reduced lifespan?

[LongWayHome]

I shared more than a few beers with Bill in Cambridge back in the ‘80s.

We used to go to the same bar when he was with the Celtics and I was a college student. Nice, down-to-earth guy.

RIP big red.

[SeekAndFind]

Great player, unfortunately cut short by a bum knee.

He was a progenitor of great modern all-around centers like Nikola Jokic.

[Bookshelf]

Bill was such an outstanding player in high school that Sports Illustrated (when it was still a sports magazine) touted him as a future basketball star.

[dfwgator]

He definitely marched to the beat of his own drum.

[GSWarrior]

He lived in that same house up until his passing. It’s sort of a local landmark.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

Great player, unfortunately cut short by a bum knee.

No, Walton had bad feet. Bill Walton was blessed with a perfect basketball body, but cursed by small feet with high arches. The Portland Trail Blazer team doctor called it a cruel joke by God.

[MinorityRepublican]

No, Walton had bad feet. Bill Walton was blessed with a perfect basketball body, but cursed by small feet with high arches. The Portland Trail Blazer team doctor called it a cruel joke by God.

And a bad diet.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

His politics were pretty dumb, until he got mugged.

Bill Walton was a smelly hippie in college, but called himself a "born again capitalist" a few years into the NBA.

[Psalm 73]

Was one of my all-time favorite Leftists.

The best passing big man, ever.

Won big with Portland, then came over to the Celtics a few years later to team up with Bird, Parish and McHale. Man, that was some front court.

[Bratch]

[Myrddin]

Last time I saw Bill Walton, he was waiting for his luggage at the San Diego airport. The return area was across the street from the terminal. Bill left the baggage return area and pulled his car up into a no parking zone just outside the door of the luggage return. He left his car unattended long enough to fetch his bags. He wasn't faster than the cops who promptly wrote him a parking ticket. C'est la vie! Sad to see cancer take him out at 71.

[ChildOfThe60s]

He had some genetic foot problems that caused him a lot of grief.