Seven reasons we must never forget Bill Walton

On Monday, the NBA announced Bill Walton, a former MVP and well-known broadcaster, died at 71 following a battle with cancer. Here are seven reasons we must never forget one of the greatest figures in basketball history.

1. He had one of the greatest NCAA Tournament games ever  

Walton, a 6-foot-11 center, had a storied career in four seasons at UCLA under legendary head coach John Wooden, but his finest moment came in the 1973 national title game against Memphis State.

In an 87-66 victory, Walton scored a championship-game record 44 points on a nearly perfect 21-of-22 shooting and won his second national title. Unsurprisingly, he was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player.

In March 2024, Grant Hughes of 247 Sports rated Walton's magnificent game one of the 10 most memorable Final Four performances in NCAA Tournament history. 

2. He could've had a better NBA career without injuries 

Walton dealt with chronic foot and knee issues throughout his career. The Athletic's Jason Quick reported he underwent 39 surgeries and missed 762 games in 13 seasons with the Celtics, Clippers and Trail Blazers.

He could've had an even better career if he avoided injuries. Former Celtics teammate and three-time MVP Larry Bird told ESPN "30 for 30" producer Steve James that Walton was one of the best players of all time when healthy.

In the 1976-77 season, Walton played in 65 regular-season games, the third most in his career. He finished second in MVP voting behind Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and helped Portland win its only title. 

3. Overcame a stutter

Walton grew up with a stutter and struggled with interviews in college and the NBA. When he was 28, he met former New York Knicks broadcaster Marty Glickman at a social event, an encounter that would change his life. 

Glickman gave Walton some tips to overcome his stutter, which included slowing his thoughts down, chewing sugarless gum and identifying the sounds that gave him the most trouble. Clearly, the tips worked.

Walton would later become a public speaker and enjoy a long and successful career as a broadcaster on several networks. In 2001, he won an Emmy for best live sports television broadcast.

4. He loved the Grateful Dead

Walton was a Grateful Dead superfan, frequently mentioning the band in his broadcasts.  

In 2015, he told The San Diego Union-Tribune's George Varga he had attended 854 Grateful Dead shows. He later befriended the band, which would frequently stay at his home when they were in San Diego.

He also claimed the group helped him push through difficult times in his life.

"I am who I am because of the Grateful Dead," Walton said in 2020, per Variety. "They have shaped me, formed me, molded me, driven me, inspired me, lifted me up, carried me when I couldn't walk, and taken me to places that I could never get to on my own."

5. His sense of humor   

Given his penchant for high jinks and outlandish soundbites, fans tuning into a Walton broadcast were usually in for a treat.

In 2014, Awful Announcing's Matt Yoder made a list titled "The 15 Best Bill Walton Quotes," which featured colossal praise for Utah Jazz guard John Stockton.

"John Stockton is one of the true marvels, not just of basketball, or in America, but in the history of Western Civilization," Walton said, via Yoder.   

6. Hall of Famer

Although injuries impacted Walton's career, he was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1993 and made the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.

"The beauty of our title team was we all sacrificed individual stats for the sum of the team, and nobody did that more than Bill," former Trail Blazers guard Dave Twardzik told The Athletic in 2021. "He certainly could have scored more, played more differently than he did, but he was extremely unselfish."

Walton being the consummate team player is one reason he's still highly regarded in basketball circles. 

7. He believed he was "the luckiest guy in the world"  

It would've been understandable if Walton held any bitterness or regrets about his career. However, he seemed to maintain a positive outlook.

Walton often called himself "the luckiest guy in the world." This phrase inspired the title of ESPN's four-part docuseries chronicling his life. 

"Bill Walton was a legendary player and a singular personality who genuinely cherished every experience throughout the journey of his extraordinary life," ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement, via the Associated Press. "Bill often described himself as 'the luckiest guy in the world,' but anyone who had the opportunity to interact with Bill was the lucky one."