Bill Walton, known as one of the greatest college basketball players of all-time, passed away on Monday after a long bout with cancer. He was 71.
The modern college basketball audience will recognize Walton for his gregarious and eccentric – and often fully outlandish – broadcasting career, which included calling games for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network all the way up into this season. But Walton was an absolute menace on the court, playing three seasons for the UCLA Bruins from 1971-1974.
Freshmen weren’t allowed to play varsity back in Walton’s era, but once he made the squad he instantly became the best player in the sport – winning National Player of the Year three straight years and leading UCLA to a pair of national championships, twice winning Final Four Most Outstanding Player. His 44 points against Memphis in 1973 remains a national championship game record.
The Bruins went 86-4 during Walton’s three years, including a still-standing Division 1 record 88-game winning streak. The streak was snapped by Notre Dame – in a game Walton was playing with a back brace due to a broken spine suffered earlier in the season.
And that’s really the story for Walton. A titanic, singularly dominant force who dealt with significant, life altering injuries which he played through as best he could – leading to a magnificent Hall of Fame career and a lifetime of pain.
Big Bill led the Portland Trail Blazers to their first and to date only NBA championship – averaging 18.5 points, 19 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 3.7 blocks in the series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Injuries prevented him from playing at that level again, but he adjusted and became a quality reserve for the Boston Celtics in the 1980’s and ultimately found a spot in the Hall of Fame.
Walton’s death sent a wave of tributes across social media, ranging from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Barack Obama, and the timing of his passing – one day after the final regular season sporting event of his beloved Pac-12 Conference – feels at once heartbreaking and profoundly serendipitous: which is exactly how Walton would have wanted it.