NBA Hall of Famer and Trail Blazers legend Bill Walton dies at 71 after prolonged fight with cancer

Invoice Walton was by no means afraid to be himself.

Bigger than life, solely partially due to his practically 7-foot body, Walton was a two-time NCAA champion at UCLA, a two-time champion within the NBA, a Basketball Corridor of Fame inductee, an on-court icon in each sense of the phrase. And off the court docket, Walton was a persistent fun-seeker, a broadcaster who adhered to no standard norms and took nice pleasure in that, a person with a deeply severe aspect concerning the causes that mattered most to him.

“Invoice Walton,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated, “was really one in every of a sort.”

Walton died Monday on the age of 71 after a protracted battle with most cancers, the league introduced on behalf of his household. He was the NBA’s MVP within the 1977-78 season, the league’s sixth man of the 12 months in 1985-86 and a member of the league’s fiftieth anniversary and seventy fifth anniversary groups. That adopted a university profession by which he blossomed whereas enjoying beneath coach John Picket at UCLA, changing into a three-time nationwide participant of the 12 months.

“I’m unhappy in the present day listening to that my comrade and one of many sports activities world’s most beloved champions and characters has handed,” Julius “Dr. J” Erving, a fellow Corridor of Famer, wrote on social media. “Invoice Walton loved life in each approach. To compete towards him and to work with him was a blessing in my life.”

Tributes instantly started pouring in, and the NBA was planning a second of silence to commemorate Walton’s life earlier than Sport 4 of the Boston-Indiana matchup within the Jap Convention finals on Monday night time.

Walton, who entered the Corridor of Fame in 1993, was one of many recreation’s most celebrated figures. His NBA profession — disrupted by persistent foot accidents — lasted solely 468 video games mixed with the Portland Path Blazers, the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers and the Boston Celtics. He averaged 13.3 factors and 10.5 rebounds in these video games, neither of these numbers precisely record-setting.

Nonetheless, his impression on the sport was large.

“It’s a legend misplaced while you speak about basketball and what he delivered to the media aspect,” Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd stated. “As an ex-player, to have the ability to achieve success not simply on the court docket but in addition on TV.”

Walton’s most well-known recreation was the 1973 NCAA title recreation, UCLA towards Memphis, by which he shot 21 for 22 from the sector and led the Bruins to a different nationwide championship.

“Certainly one of my guards stated, ‘Let’s attempt one thing else,’” Picket informed The Related Press in 2008 for a thirty fifth anniversary retrospective on that recreation.

Picket’s response throughout that timeout: “Why? If it ain’t broke, don’t repair it.”

They stored giving the ball to Walton, and he stored delivering in a efficiency for the ages.

“It’s very arduous to place into phrases what he has meant to UCLA’s program, in addition to his super impression on school basketball,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin stated Monday. “Past his exceptional accomplishments as a participant, it’s his relentless power, enthusiasm for the sport and unwavering candor which were the hallmarks of his larger-than-life persona.

“It’s arduous to think about a season in Pauley Pavilion with out him.”

When Walton retired from the NBA he turned to broadcasting, one thing he by no means thought he might be good at — and an avenue he generally puzzled can be doable for him, as a result of he had a pronounced stutter at instances in his life.

Seems, he was glorious at that, too: Walton was an Emmy winner, finally was named one of many high 50 sports activities broadcasters of all time by the American Sportscasters Affiliation and even appeared on The New York Instances’ bestseller checklist for his memoir, “Again from the Lifeless.” It informed the story of a debilitating again damage suffered in 2008, one which left him contemplating taking his personal life due to the fixed ache, and the way he spent years recovering.

“I lived most of my life on my own. However as quickly as I obtained on the court docket I used to be positive,” Walton informed The Oregonian newspaper for a narrative revealed in 2017. “However in life, being so self acutely aware, crimson hair, large nostril, freckles and goofy, nerdy wanting face and may’t discuss in any respect. I used to be extremely shy and by no means stated a phrase. Then, after I was 28 I realized how you can converse. It’s change into my biggest accomplishment of my life and all people else’s largest nightmare.”

The final a part of that was simply Walton hyperbole. He was identified for his on-air tangents and generally appeared on-air in Grateful Lifeless T-shirts; Walton was an enormous fan of the band and referenced it usually, even generally recording satellite tv for pc radio specials celebrating what it meant to be a “Deadhead.”

And the Pac-12 Convention, which has principally evaporated in some ways now due to school realignment, was one other of his many loves. He all the time referred to it because the “Convention of Champions” and sang its praises all the way in which to the tip.

“It doesn’t get any higher than this,” he as soon as stated on a broadcast, tie-dyed T-shirt on, a Hawaiian lei round his neck.

Walton was concerned within the broadcasts of faculty and NBA video games for CBS, NBC and ABC/ESPN in his profession, together with stints working for the Clippers and Sacramento Kings as an analyst. He returned to ESPN and the Pac-12 Community, additional touting the roots of his league, in 2012.

“Invoice Walton was a legendary participant and a singular persona who genuinely cherished each expertise all through the journey of his extraordinary life,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro stated. “Invoice usually described himself as ‘the luckiest man on this planet,’ however anybody who had the chance to work together with Invoice was the fortunate one. He was a very particular, giving one that all the time made time for others. Invoice’s one-of-a-kind spirit captivated and impressed audiences throughout his second profession as a profitable broadcaster.”

However Walton will all the time be synonymous with UCLA’s dominance.

He enrolled on the college in 1970, earlier than freshmen may play on the varsity group. As soon as he may play for Picket, the Bruins had been unbeatable for greater than two years — Walton’s UCLA groups received their first 73 video games, the majority of the Bruins’ extraordinary 88-game profitable streak. It was snapped towards Notre Dame in 1974, a 71-70 loss by which Walton shot 12 for 14 from the sector.

“Invoice Walton’s passing is a tragic tragedy. One of many nice ones in UCLA basketball historical past,” Digger Phelps, who coached that Notre Dame group, posted Monday on social media. “We had been nice pals over time. It received’t be the identical with out him.”

UCLA went 30-0 in every of Walton’s first two seasons, and 86-4 in his profession on the varsity group.

“My teammates … made me a significantly better basketball participant than I may ever have change into myself,” Walton stated at his Corridor of Fame speech in 1993. “The idea of group has all the time been essentially the most intriguing side of basketball to me. If I had been concerned about particular person success or a person sport, I might have taken up tennis or golf.”

Walton led Portland to the 1977 NBA title, then obtained his second championship with Boston in 1986.

“Invoice Walton was an icon,” stated Jody Allen, the chair of the Path Blazers. “His management and tenacity on the court docket had been key to bringing a championship to our followers and outlined one of the crucial magical moments in franchise historical past. We’ll all the time treasure what he delivered to our group and the game of basketball.”

The Celtics launched an announcement saying: “Invoice Walton was one of the crucial consequential gamers of his period. … Walton may do all of it, possessing nice timing, full imaginative and prescient of the ground, glorious fundamentals and was of one of many biggest passing large males in league historical past.”

Walton thought-about himself lucky to have been guided by two of the sport’s biggest minds in Picket and Celtics patriarch Pink Auerbach.

“Thanks John, and thanks Pink, for making my life what it has change into,” Walton stated in his Corridor of Fame speech.

Walton was the No. 1 decide by Portland within the 1974 draft. He stated Invoice Russell was his favourite participant and located Larry Fowl the hardest and finest he performed with, so it was acceptable that his enjoying profession ended as a member of the Celtics. “Enjoying basketball with Larry Fowl,” Walton as soon as stated, “is like singing with Jerry Garcia,” referencing the co-founder of the Grateful Lifeless.

In his remaining years, Walton spoke out about points that mattered most to him, akin to the issue of homelessness in his native San Diego, urging metropolis leaders to take motion and create shelter house to assist these in want.

“What I’ll bear in mind most about him was his zest for all times,” Silver stated in an announcement. “He was an everyday presence at league occasions — all the time upbeat, smiling ear to ear and trying to share his knowledge and heat. I treasured our shut friendship, envied his boundless power and admired the time he took with each particular person he encountered.”

Walton died surrounded by his family members, his household stated. He’s survived by spouse Lori and sons Adam, Nate, Chris and Luke — a former NBA participant and now a coach.