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Bill Walton, the basketball Hall of Fame center who won two national titles at UCLA and two NBA championships with Portland and Boston and later provided “color” commentary, died Monday after a long battle with cancer, the NBA announced.
Walton was 71 years old and died surrounded by his family, according to the NBA.
“Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “As a Hall of Fame player, he redefined the center position. His unique all-around skills made him a dominant force at UCLA and led to NBA regular season and Finals MVP awards, two NBA championships and a spot on the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.”
“Bill later brought his passion and love for the game to his broadcasts, entertaining generations of basketball fans with his insightful and colorful commentary.
“But what I remember most about him was his passion for life. He was a regular attendee at League events, always cheerful, smiling broadly and eager to share his wisdom and warmth. I cherished our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and respected the time he spent with everyone he met.”
Walton's basketball journey began at UCLA, where the 6-foot-11, red-headed center thrived under legendary coach John Wooden and led the Bruins to national championships in 1972 and 1973, going a perfect 30-0 both seasons. In the 1973 finals, Walton took 22 shots, missing just one, and scored a championship-record 44 points.
The team briefly won 88 straight games, a record that still stands today for the men's team, and Walton was named Collegiate Player of the Year and All-American in each of his three seasons on the varsity team.
Still, Walton and Wooden clashed on numerous occasions over cultural and political issues, including Walton's long hair and his protests against the Vietnam War.
The big man with a nifty hook shot was the first pick in the 1974 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers and led the team to its only NBA championship in 1977. He was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player during that playoff run and was named the NBA regular season MVP the following season.
But his career was derailed by a series of injuries. He left Portland to play for the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers from 1979-1985, but never reached the heights of his earlier seasons, and he suffered from foot and knee injuries that led to nearly 40 orthopedic surgeries over his lifetime.
He then joined the Boston Celtics and had a resurgence in his career, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1986 as the go-to backup for stars Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. The team won the 1986 NBA title by defeating the Houston Rockets, which was Walton's second title of his career.
Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images
Bill Walton of the Boston Celtics faces off against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1985 NBA Finals.
He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Despite growing up with a stutter, Walton has built a successful broadcasting career as a sometimes-outlandish commentator for NBA and NCAA basketball games, most recently working for ESPN.
He was known for bringing delight, surprise and eccentricity to his coverage of the games. He was a known Grateful Dead fan, and was often seen wearing tie-dye shirts and peppering his coverage with references to the band.
He once said on air: “Hey, dude, that's not a foul! It may violate the rules of basic human decency, but it's not a foul.”
Another commented: “Since most people understand what it means to say nothing, saying virtually nothing speaks volumes.”
He also liked to flaunt his intellect. According to Awful Announcing, one of his best quotes was, “Yesterday we celebrated Sir Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity. Today Fabricio Oberto is defying it.”
Mike Blake/Reuters
NBC basketball announcers Bill Walton and Marv Albert pose before the start of Game 4 of the NBA Finals on June 12, 2002 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
He suffered from the effects of those injuries, telling David Axelrod on CNN's podcast “The Axe Files” in 2016 that back pain led him to nearly commit suicide in 2008.
“In that situation, more people commit suicide because of back pain than any other illness. It's just unbearable. Back pain destroys every aspect of your life. It destroys every aspect of the people around you,” he said.
“And I went from nothing to having this surgery and feeling so much better. I'm not on any meds. I'm not in any pain. I'm full speed ahead. I've never been this busy. I'm so happy. I've never been this healthy since I was 13. I never thought I'd be free of pain all these years, and I never thought I'd be happy in love, but now I have both. I'm the luckiest man on earth.”
He also told Axelrod how he dealt with his stutter.
“I couldn't say hello. I couldn't say thank you. I couldn't speak a word without stammering and stammering and hesitating. I couldn't express myself,” he says. “I express myself through sports. I express myself through reading. I express myself by being a part of a bigger world that I only ever dreamed I could be a part of.”
Marty Glickman, a famous announcer and former track and field star, helped Walton overcome his speech impediment when he was 28 years old.
“He took me into a corner and stood me behind a potted plant, and within five minutes he just unfolded it. Bang! Bang! Bang! That's how you learn to speak,” he said.
Jay Blakesberg/Grateful Dead Invision/AP
Bill Walton dances during the Grateful Dead's “Fare Thee Well” show at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 28, 2015.
After Walton's death, Axelrod praised him as more than just a basketball player.
“He was a world-class human being with a huge heart and an infectious passion for life. He lived through excruciating pain and yet, as a newscaster, he lightened our burdens and made us smile,” he posted on X.
UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin offered his condolences in a statement and praised Walton's achievements.
“It is very difficult to put into words what he meant to the UCLA program and the tremendous impact he had on the world of college basketball,” he said. “Beyond his incredible accomplishments as a player, his tireless energy, passion for the game and unwavering candor were hallmarks of his extraordinary personality.”
Walton is survived by his wife, Lori, and four sons who played college basketball: Luke Walton, who won two NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, making him and his father the first father-son duo to win multiple NBA rings;
Bill Walton's brother, Bruce, who passed away in 2019, played in the Super Bowl as a member of the Dallas Cowboys in January 1976, becoming the first brothers to play in both the NFL and NBA championship games.
This story has been updated with additional information.