Heartbreaking News: NBA and UCLA Icon Bill Walton Dead at 71 – Fans in Mourning!
Bill Walton once stated that his ideal Final Four field would contain five Pac-12 Conference teams. He repeated the tagline “Conference of Champions” on basketball broadcasts as if he was paid based on how many allusions he could cram into a single game. It wasn’t an act; it was Walton being Walton, as colourful as one of the tie-dye shirts the self-proclaimed Grateful Dead enthusiast enjoyed wearing. Walton, the huge redhead whose basketball skill at UCLA and in the NBA was matched only by his love of life and all its absurdities, died on Monday surrounded by family following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 71.
“The world feels so much heavier now,” fellow legendary Bruins big man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said on the social media platform X (previously Twitter), accompanied with a photo of the two men laughing with their arms wrapped across one another. “Bill was a strong player on the court, but off the court, he wasn’t satisfied unless he did everything he could to make everyone happy. “He was the best among us.”
Long after winning two national championships with the Bruins under John Wooden and being named to the NBA’s 50th and 75th anniversary teams, Walton remained a steady presence in the game he loved as a broadcaster and de facto advocate for his alma institution and Pac-12. Visible from any arena, the lumbering large man walked with a hitch in his stride in his latter years, yet he always relished giving tips to young Bruins players before games and handing out T-shirts to students in the crowd. When supporters chanted his name inside Pauley Pavilion, Walton would lift both of his huge arms in joy.
The guy who won two NBA championships and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame was known for being generous with his time, and he frequently made everyone around him feel like the star.
“I never had a better friend, and there are hundreds of others who feel the same way,” longtime Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler wrote on X in tribute to the 6-foot-11 centre who spent three years with the team when it was based in San Diego before moving up the 5 Motorway for its debut season in Los Angeles in 1984-85. “He leaves a giant hole in our hearts.” Last season, Walton’s broadcasting schedule was significantly reduced as his sickness advanced. He was also absent from Pac-12 media day, where he preferred to sit quietly in the back of the room and smile while listening to coaches and players discuss their teams’ season hopes and the conference tournament five months later.
When he called UCLA home games, Walton would stay in the Luskin Centre, next to Pauley Pavilion, and overtly declare his presence, once openly complimenting the hotel as the best in the world as he approached the front desk. His absurdist nature was on full show alongside ESPN commentator Dave Pasch, who played the straight man to Walton’s comedian. When Pasch dared to intervene after one of Walton’s lengthy, rambling soliloquies, Walton would respond, “Who are you again?”
Pasch once jokingly challenged Walton to bite into a cupcake with a lit candle on top. After Walton unflinchingly complied, a perplexed Pasch exclaimed, “Oh, I was kidding!” before burst out laughing and covering his face with his hand in surprise.
Walton’s basketball abilities astounded spectators. He was a three-time collegiate basketball player of the year who led UCLA to 73 consecutive victories and played a key role in the Bruins’ record 88-game winning streak under Wooden.
Leave a Reply