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Bill Walton, who died Monday, was winter late-night medicine for the soul
Walton was a giant in more than size, bringing laughter and life through TV screens carrying basketball games many of us didn’t even care about all that much
May. 27, 2024 1:55 pm, Updated: May. 27, 2024 3:07 pm
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who enjoyed Bill Walton or would have had they been aware of him, and those who wander through life in the darkness.
If you didn’t like Walton, I can’t help you. Hopefully, someone can.
In 1977 as a young fella, I went to Chicago over Christmas break and joined 20,000 other fans to watch the Bulls beat Walton’s great Portland team in a fantastic atmosphere. Walton’s team was coming off an NBA title and played the game in as beautiful a way as any you'll ever see.
Walton’s college career at UCLA was nothing short of astonishing.
In 2001 while covering the Final Four in Minneapolis, I had a brief conversation with Walton, whose son played for Arizona in the national-title game there. He could not have been friendlier to a stranger, something I would hear many others say over the years.
The last 12 years, he gave me countless, enormous entertainment as a commentator on ESPN college basketball telecasts. He did that after dealing with a stutter that held him back for the first three decades of his life.
He was a perpetual reminder in those 12 years that basketball is supposed to be fun, that life is supposed to be fun. That, despite the fact he suffered physically in many ways, and openly admitted he had a very dark period in his life because of it. For two years before he did college games on ESPN, he was on his back. He contemplated suicide because of the pain and the miserable existence he was enduring.
He got a spinal fusion 15 years ago, and resumed living. His ESPN act was seven feet over-the-top, zany. However, his zest for music, bike riding, nature, literature, basketball and laughter was genuine. I watched a lot of late-night Pac-12 basketball games that otherwise had no attraction for me because of him, all the crazy and funny things he'd say mixed with appreciation of things worth appreciating.
Walton died Monday at 71, and it was way too soon.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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