Former NBA star Bill Walton, right, joins The Fall Risk to sing the national anthem before the start of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. Larger than life, only in part because of his nearly 7-foot frame, Walton was a two-time NCAA champion at UCLA, a two-time champion in the NBA, a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, an on-court icon in every sense of the word.
“One of my guards said, ’Let’s try something else,’” Wooden told The Associated Press in 2008 for a 35th anniversary retrospective on that game.They kept giving the ball to Walton, and he kept delivering in a performance for the ages. The last part of that was just Walton hyperbole. He was known for his on-air tangents and sometimes appeared on-air in Grateful Dead T-shirts; Walton was a huge fan of the band and referenced it often, even sometimes recording satellite radio specials celebrating what it meant to be a “Deadhead.”
“Bill Walton was a legendary player and a singular personality who genuinely cherished every experience throughout the journey of his extraordinary life,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said. “Bill often described himself as ‘the luckiest guy in the world,’ but anyone who had the opportunity to interact with Bill was the lucky one. He was a truly special, giving person who always made time for others.