The broader basketball world has lost one of its truly larger-than-life figures.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton died on Monday following a prolonged battle with cancer, with the NBA announcing the news on behalf of his family. He was 71 years old.
“What I will remember most about him was his zest for life,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “He was a regular presence at league events — always upbeat, smiling ear to ear and looking to share his wisdom and warmth. I treasured our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and admired the time he took with every person he encountered. As a cherished member of the NBA family for 50 years, Bill will be deeply missed by all those who came to know and love him.”
REQUIRED READING:Bill Walton, Hall of Famer and UCLA legend, dies at age 71
Though Walton is known by younger generations primarily as a broadcaster — with his offbeat and often off-subject analysis becoming a staple of ESPN’s Pac-12 basketball coverage — that can obscure his legendary basketball career, which is among the most decorated in the sport’s history when NBA, college and high school accomplishments are taken into account.
At the professional level, Walton was a two-time NBA champion and won NBA Finals MVP in 1977 for the Portland Trail Blazers, whom he led to the franchise’s lone NBA title. Though injuries shortened his career, he was a two-time NBA all-star and made both the league’s 50th and 75th anniversary teams.
Perhaps his greatest mark on the sport, however, came in college at UCLA, where he amassed a resume that’s among the greatest in college basketball history. Here’s a deeper look at Walton’s storied college career:
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Walton arrived at UCLA in 1970 as a prized 6-foot-11 center from nearby La Mesa, California. During Walton’s recruitment, UCLA assistant Denny Crum, who later went on to lead Louisville to two national championships as a head coach, was sent to watch Walton play. He reported back to Bruins coach John Wooden that "this Walton kid was the best high school player I'd ever seen.”
Though freshmen were ineligible to compete on schools’ varsity teams at the time, Walton followed through on that immense promise in his first season in Westwood, leading the UCLA freshman team in scoring while guiding it to an undefeated season.
By the time Walton joined the Bruins’ varsity team in advance of the 1971-72 season, UCLA was in the midst of the most dominant run ever for a college basketball program, having won each of the previous five NCAA championships and seven of the past eight.
That success continued with Walton, who stepped in at center for Wooden just two years after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar graduated. In each of Walton’s first two seasons, UCLA went 30-0 and won the national championship. In the second of those two title games, an 87-66 victory against Memphis State, Walton scored 44 points while making 21 of his 22 shots. His scoring output is the highest ever in a Division I men’s basketball championship game while his field goal percentage is the highest ever for a Division I player with at least 20 made shots in a game.
Between those two title-winning seasons, the first 13 games of his senior season, his season on the Bruins’ freshman team and his final two varsity seasons at Helix High School in La Mesa, Walton owned a personal 142-game win streak.
At least at UCLA, those victories didn’t always come easily, with the famously free-spirited Walton presenting a contrast to the buttoned-up, old-fashioned Wooden. After arriving at UCLA, Walton initially refused to cut his long hair, to which Wooden told him “We’ll miss you,” prompting Walton to ride his bike to a nearby barbershop.
“I was John Wooden’s easiest recruit,” Walton said to GQ in 2016. “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: (1) when I was a high school student and he was recruiting me; (2) when I played for him when I was 17 to 21; (3) 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 (bringing) consternation into his life.”
In Walton’s senior season, the Bruins’ record 88-game win streak was snapped by Notre Dame. UCLA went on to suffer three more losses, including an 80-77 double-overtime setback to eventual national champion NC State in the Final Four, ending a run of seven consecutive seasons in which the Bruins won the NCAA title.
In a 2015 interview with NCAA.com, Walton said the loss to David Thompson and the Wolfpack in 1974 has “plagued me,” describing it as “a stigma on my soul, and there's no way I can get rid of it."
Still, Walton went on to earn Naismith College Player of the Year that season, marking the third time he had done so during his college career (one for each varsity season he played). Walton is just one of two players to have been a three-time Naismith award recipient, along with Ralph Sampson.
Shortly after graduating, Walton went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft, joining the Portland franchise he would lead to a championship three years later.
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Over Walton’s three varsity seasons, UCLA went 86-4 and won two national championships.
The Bruins’ four losses came by a combined 13 points, with none of the games decided by more than five points. They all came in his senior season at UCLA in 1973-74:
In his three seasons on UCLA’s varsity team, Walton averaged 20.3 points, 15.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 65.1% from the field. Blocks were not kept as an official NCAA statistic until the 1985-86 season. His 506 rebounds as a junior are the fifth-most by a Division I player in a season since 1973.
Here’s a look at Walton’s year-by-year production:
In the aftermath of Walton's death, UCLA released the following statement from basketball coach Mick Cronin:
"On behalf of everyone with the UCLA men's basketball program, we are deeply saddened to learn of Bill Walton's passing. My deepest condolences go out to his family and loved ones. It's very hard to put into words what he has meant to UCLA's program, as well as his tremendous impact on college basketball.
"Beyond his remarkable accomplishments as a player, it's his relentless energy, enthusiasm for the game and unwavering candor that have been the hallmarks of his larger than life personality. As a passionate UCLA alumnus and broadcaster, he loved being around our players, hearing their stories, and sharing his wisdom and advice. For me as a coach, he was honest, kind, and always had his heart in the right place. I will miss him very much.
"It's hard to imagine a season in Pauley Pavilion without him. Our athletics department, our team and this university will miss him dearly."