Bill Walton
William Theodore Walton III was an American basketball player and television sportscaster. He played collegiately for the UCLA Bruins and professionally in the National Basketball Association for the Portland Trail Blazers, San Diego / Los Angeles Clippers, and Boston Celtics. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
Walton rose to prominence in the early 1970s as UCLA's starting center for coach John Wooden. The Walton won three consecutive national college player of the year awards, while leading UCLA to NCAA championships in 1972 and 1973 and an 88-game winning streak. After being selected as the first overall pick in the 1974 NBA draft, Walton led the Portland Trail Blazers to the team's first and only NBA championship in 1977, earning the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. The following season, Walton was the 1978 NBA Most Valuable Player.
Walton's professional career, however, was significantly hampered by foot injuries, requiring numerous surgeries. As a result, Walton only played in 468 out of 1,148 possible regular season games across his 14-year NBA career. After his MVP season, Walton sat out the 1978–79 season and was then signed by the Clippers, for whom he played four injury-plagued seasons. His career was rehabilitated during two seasons with the Celtics at the end of his career. Playing as a backup center behind Robert Parish, Walton earned the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in the 1985–86 season and contributed significantly to the Celtics' playoff run that year, culminating in his second NBA championship. He was named to the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams.
After retiring from the NBA, Walton overcame stuttering and embarked on a second career as a sportscaster, working both as a studio analyst and color commentator with several networks and teams. He earned an Emmy Award in 1991.
Early life
Walton was born and raised in La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego, the son of Gloria Anne and William Theodore "Ted" Walton Jr. He was raised with siblings Bruce, Cathy, and Andy. The Walton home was on a hillside on Colorado Avenue, just below Lake Murray.Walton's father was a music teacher and social worker, and his mother was a librarian. His parents had interests in art, literature, politics, and music. Walton took music lessons, and although his parents were not sports-oriented, Walton followed in the footsteps of his older brother Bruce, who had gravitated toward sports. When the Walton children were in junior high and high school, their father formed an informal family band: Bruce played trombone, Bill played baritone horn, Andy played the saxophone, and Cathy played drums.
Walton first played organized basketball under Frank "Rocky" Graciano, who coached at Walton's Catholic elementary school. Walton said that Graciano "made it fun and really emphasized the joy of playing the team game. I was a skinny, scrawny guy. I stuttered horrendously, couldn't speak at all. I was a very shy, reserved player and a very shy, reserved person. I found a safe place in life in basketball."
High school career
Walton played high school basketball at Helix High School in La Mesa alongside his older brother Bruce, who was also a star on the school's football team and would later go on to play for the Dallas Cowboys. During games with the two Waltons on the court, any tough physical treatment laid out on the younger Bill would be matched back by the, Bruce in turn."When those opposing teams would try to get physical with me, Bruce would do whatever it took to protect me," Walton recalled. "He went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys. Bruce and I are the only brother combination in history to ever play in the Super Bowl and to win the NBA championship."
"When they would begin to rough up Bill, I would look at coach and he would give me a nod." recalled Bruce. "Yes," said Gloria Walton, "then when the referee wasn't looking, Bruce would give the player an elbow and let him know that the skinny guy was his kid brother."
Walton's struggle with injury and pain began while at Helix, where he broke an ankle, a leg, several bones in his feet, and underwent knee surgery. Before his sophomore season, Walton underwent surgery to repair torn cartilage on his left knee. Because of his recovery from the knee surgery, Walton played most of his sophomore year on the junior varsity team. Coach Gordon Nash promoted him to the varsity team the end of the season. But, he played in only six games and did not start any of them.
Between his sophomore and junior years of high school, Walton grew from to. Coach Nash played Bill and Bruce Walton together in the paint. Bill was taller, but frail as he had not filled out his growing frame. Bill was unable to play a complete game without resting. "He would simply get too tired", recalled Nash. "When that happened, he'd tell me and I'd take him out."
While Walton was in high school in 1967, the NBA expansion San Diego Rockets came to town. The Rockets had no set practice facility and would often play pick-up games at Helix High School. Rocket players learned that to get into the Helix gym they could call the teenage Walton, who had his own gym key. Walton recalled Elvin Hayes calling and telling his mother, "Tell Billy, Big E is calling and we need him to open the gym tonight. I said, 'Mom, that's Big E! Give me the phone!' I was never so embarrassed in my life. Elvin and I are still close friends. All of those guys, all still my friends to this very day."
"We had the best gym in San Diego and all the Rockets players wanted to go there," Walton reflected. "They had some great teams with Elvin Hayes and Calvin Murphy and future head coaches and broadcasters such as Pat Riley, Rick Adelman, Rudy Tomjanovich, Jim Barnett, and Stu Lantz. All these guys treated me—little Billy—like I was part of the team. They couldn't have been nicer, and I became their friend."
Championships and national records
Walton overcame all obstacles and led Helix to 49 consecutive victories in his two varsity seasons. Helix won the California Interscholastic Federation Championship in both 1969 and 1970, finishing 29–2 in 1968–69 and 33–0 in 1969–70. He graduated at about tall. Walton averaged 29 points and 25 rebounds, as Helix finished 33–0 in his senior season.As a senior in 1969–70, Walton made 384 of 490 shot attempts, 78.3 percent, still the all-time national record. In addition, Walton's 825 rebounds that season ranks No 3 all-time. His 25.0 rebounds per game in a season ranks No. 7 all-time.
In 1970, Walton was featured in "Faces in the Crowd" in the January 26 issue of Sports Illustrated, his first national media recognition.
"It was a dream come true to be a part of a special team," Walton said. "Helix is where it all began. It was a humbling honor and privilege to be on the same squad as true legends Monroe Nash, Wilbur Strong, Phil Edwards, and Bruce Menser. I'm the luckiest guy on earth."
Hall of Fame Coach Denny Crum, then an assistant coach at University of California, Los Angeles under John Wooden, was sent to watch Walton play. Crum first saw Walton in 1968 as a high school junior and was at first dubious when hearing of Walton, but went to scout him anyway. "I came back and told Coach Wooden that this Walton kid was the best high school player I'd ever seen," Crum recalled.
College career
Beginning in elementary and high school, Walton had loyally followed UCLA's basketball team on the radio. He was recruited by many colleges, but quickly accepted UCLA's scholarship offer to play basketball for the Bruins and Coach Wooden. Wooden became a lifetime mentor to Walton.Said Walton of Coach Wooden: "I was John Wooden's easiest recruit. I became his worst nightmare. I drove the poor guy to an early grave when he was 99. I had three different periods of my life in my relationship with him: when I was a high school student and he was recruiting me; when I played for him when I was 17 to 21; and then 36 years of being his friend. I had no idea what we had at UCLA. I thought everybody had the same thing: great parents, great schools, great neighborhoods, great colleges, great coaches. Then I joined the NBA. And I realized immediately that I had just absolutely blown this whole deal with John Wooden. And so I spent the rest of my life, first of all, trying to make it up to him; and second of all, no longer consternation into his life."
Walton played for UCLA under Coach Wooden from 1971 to 1974. His older brother Bruce played football at UCLA, enrolling a year ahead of Bill. Bill Walton led the Bruins to two consecutive 30–0 seasons and the NCAA men's basketball record 88-game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak of 142 games that lasted almost five years, in which Walton's high school, UCLA freshman 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.
Freshman season (1970–1971)
Prior to joining the varsity team, Walton, along with Greg Lee and Keith Wilkes, was a member of the 20–0 1970–71 UCLA freshman team.The varsity UCLA team, led by seniors Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, and Steve Patterson defeated Villanova in the 1971 NCAA Championship Game for UCLA's fifth consecutive NCAA title.
After Walton initially refused to cut his hair as an incoming freshman, Coach Wooden told Walton "we'll miss you." Walton then rode his bike to a nearby barber.
Sophomore season (1971–1972)
The 1971–72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30–0, winning its games by an average margin of more than 30 points, averaging 94.6 points to opponents' 64.3. With Walton playing alongside Henry Bibby, Larry Farmer, Wilkes, Lee, and Swen Nater, UCLA finished 14–0 in the Pac 8 Conference.In the 25-team 1972 NCAA tournament, UCLA defeated Weber State 90–58. They defeated Long Beach State and coach Jerry Tarkanian in the Western Regional final 73–57 to reach the Final Four. Playing 20 minutes due to foul trouble, Walton had four points and 12 rebounds in the victory over Weber State, taking only one shot. He had 19 points and 11 rebounds against Long Beach State.
In the 1972 Final Four, Walton had 33 points and 21 rebounds, on 11 of 13 shooting and 11 of 12 free-throws, against Louisville in the NCAA semifinal, as UCLA won 96–77. In the NCAA championship game, he had 24 points and 20 rebounds in the Bruins' 81–76 victory over Florida State. Walton was named the 1972 NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player.
Overall, in 30 games in 1971–72, Walton averaged 21.1 points and 15.5 rebounds, shooting 64.0% from the field. He was named first-team All-American with Jim Chones of Marquette, Bo Lamar of the Louisiana-Lafayette, Ed Ratleff of Long Beach State, and Tom Riker of South Carolina.