Bill Walton, who was one of the best college basketball players ever, won the 1978 NBA MVP award and a two NBA championships with the Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics, has died Monday at the age of 71. Walton passed after a prolonged bout with cancer, the NBA announced.
“Bill Walton was truly one of a kind. As a Hall of Fame player, he redefined the center position,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a press release. “… But what I will remember most about him was his zest for life. 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.”
Born on Nov. 5, 1952 in La Mesa, California, Walton’s basketball career began in grade school at Blessed Sacrament in San Diego, where he learned from a fireman named Frank Graziano, who eventually convinced him to forget about football and focus on basketball.
“I was a skinny, scrawny guy,” Walton would tell ESPN decades later. “I stuttered horrendously, couldn’t speak at all. I was a very shy, reserved player and a very shy, reserved person. I found a safe place in life in basketball.”
Walton went to Helix High School in La Mesa, where he played basketball with his older brother, Bruce, who eventually went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys and would often serve as an enforcer when opponents got too rough with Bill. Together, they remain the only brothers to play in the Super Bowl and NBA Finals.
Early in his high school career, Walton broke his ankle, leg and multiple bones in his foot and underwent knee surgery, which began his lifelong battle with injuries. After his sophomore year, he had a growth spurt that shot him from 6-foot-1 to 6-foot-7 (he would eventually grow to be 6-foot-11), which turned him into a big man instead of a guard.
Walton got his first brush with the NBA when players from the then-San Diego Rockets would come play pick-up games at Helix. In order to get into the gym, they would contact…
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