They defeated Long Beach State and coach Jerry Tarkanian in the Western Regional final 7357 to reach the Final Four. This article was most recently revised and updated by, The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bill-Walton, ESPN Classic - Walton weathered injuries to win titles, Bill Walton - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Playing with four personal fouls, Walton fell hard to the floor on a play and injured his left knee and ankle. But I'm all better now. [37], In the 25 team 1974 NCAA tournament, UCLA defeated Dayton 111100, in a game where Walton had 27 points and 19 rebounds. [10], Walton's ankle problems became so severe that he had both his ankles surgically fused. He also set the single-tournament mark by shooting 76.3 percent (45 of 59) in 1973. However, his professional career began to be significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries requiring numerous surgeries. Walton would never play for the Trail Blazers again. Robert Parish accepting Bill Walton for who he is and what kind of player he was, I thought that was major. Period.". After the game, famous basketball journalist Dick Weiss of the Courier-Post (Camden, N.J.) wrote, "How could any team lose with Bill Walton on its roster? With Walton, UCLA won the NCAA Championship in 1972 over Florida State and again in 1973 with an 8766 win over Memphis State in which Walton made 21 of 22 field-goal attempts and scored 44 points. The only way to beat UCLA is to keep Walton from getting the ball and there's really no way to do it at least with our personnel. [61], In the Celtics' 41 series win over the Atlanta Hawks with Dominique Wilkins in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, Walton averaged 8.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 13 minutes. Walton once had a triple-double against SMU with 25 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists. "[10], While Walton was in high school in 1967, the NBA expansion San Diego Rockets came to town. "Off the floor I worried. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. "[12], On Clippers owner Donald Sterling, Walton commented, "The checks bounced higher than the basketballs when Donald Sterling took over. Nonetheless, he was one of the greatest college basketball players in history. Despite a career as an NBA player marred by injuries, he won an NBA MVP, an NBA Finals MVP, and a pair of titles. He missed three games. [46], At age 17, just out of high school, in the summer of 1970, Walton was selected to represent USA Basketball at the 1970 FIBA World Championship. Shoots: College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com, Scores from any date in BAA/NBA or ABA history, Frequently Asked Questions about the NBA, WNBA and Basketball, Basketball-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREE. Thank you people of New England. The Terre Haute Tribune noted that Walton "doesn't shoot all over the place." CAN'T MISS: Find out which March Madness Moment was voted the greatest of all time. His high arch, which made the foot bones susceptible to breaking, was lowered to relieve the stress on the bones. Portland lost the series to Seattle in six games. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. "[35][22], A week later, the Bruins beat the Fighting Irish 9475 at home. [115], His memoir, Back from the Dead: Searching for the Sound, Shining the Light and Throwing It Down, was released by Simon and Schuster in March 2016. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. It's also available for football, hockey and baseball. Walton was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in 1984. [51][50] In a 40 series sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1977 Western Conference finals, Walton averaged 19.3 points, 14.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2.3 blocks playing against fellow UCLA alum Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "[76], Overall, Walton played 468 games in his NBA career. "[49], Walton led the NBA in both rebounds per game (14.4) and blocked shots per game (3.2) as he was selected to the NBA All-Star Game, but did not participate due to an injury. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. That's the timelessness of pain and suffering; the agonizing, the reflection and the endless questioning of yourself. Bill Walton - Basketball Hall of Famer, former NBA MVP and one of only four players in the history of basketball to have won multiple NCAA and NBA Championships - returned to ESPN in 2012 as a college basketball analyst for Pac-12 games. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Team chemistry. Bill Walton attended Helix in La Mesa, California and UCLA. Oct 23, 2021. Give me the phone!' Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. [105], Walton is known as a vegetarian and a meditation practitioner. As was his belief, Wooden did not call time-outs late in games and stuck with the strategy. 3 [deleted] 10 yr. ago [11], Walton played a career-high 80 games for Coach KC Jones and the Celtics during the 198586 season. [citation needed] "There were so many problems", Walton said of the losses. Some college basketball historians rate Walton as the greatest who ever played at the college level. He rung up 2,402 points over his collegiate career and was selected as an All-American three times. "[36], "That failure has plagued me, and will, it is a stigma on my soul, and there's no way I can get rid of it." Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. I drove the poor guy to an early grave when he was 99. He and his first wife, Susie, had four sons: Adam, Nathan, Luke, and Chris. He did all that in just 33 minutes, too. Join our linker program. College: UCLA High School: Helix in La Mesa, California . In the Nuggets series Walton averaged 17.5 points, 13.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 3.0 blocks. This was a team achievement and was built around Walton but we'd be foolish not to go to him. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Walton averaged 8.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 2.2 blocks in 19 minutes, in helping the Celtics win the championship. Look at his feet. Coach Nash played Bill and Bruce Walton together in the paint. His career averages were 13.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 468 regular season games. Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners. And to me it was frustrating because I finally had a great team and a great player and it was all coming apart. I regret the circumstances in which I left the Portland Trail Blazers family. After retiring from the NBA, Walton overcame stuttering and embarked on a second career as a sportscaster, working both as a studio analyst and color commentator with stints for several networks and teams. [34] "One of the saddest days for Coach Wooden was the day he came down and had to bail me out of jail after I got arrested in the anti-Vietnam (War) protest. Walton wrote the memoir Back from the Dead (2016). Walton knows alot of basketball but doesn't beat you over the head with his "basketball knowledge" I'd rather hear Walton go off script than hear Jay Bilas say "horn set" 500 times a game. [50][46], In the 1977 postseason, Walton led #3 seed Portland to series victories over the Chicago Bulls with Artis Gilmore (21) and the Denver Nuggets with Dan Issel (42). I ground my feet up into dust. As we mentioned earlier, Walton had 33 points and 21 rebounds against Louisville in the national semifinal, then he had 24 and 20 against Florida State in the national championship game. He creates so many problems. BillWalton, (Big Red, Grateful Red, Red Baron, Redwood, Chief), Position: He pumped in an NCAA championship game record 44 points as UCLA suffocated Memphis State 87-66 for its. Bruce was a star football player as well. Walton scored 20 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in the clinching Game 6 victory,[54][49] and was named the Finals' Most Valuable Player with averages of 18.5 points, 19.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 3.7 blocks,[49][54] which prompted Philadelphia 76ers coach Gene Shue to comment after the series: "Bill Walton is the best player for a big man who ever played the game of basketball. [19], Beginning in elementary and high school, Walton had loyally followed UCLA's basketball team on the radio. We present them here for purely educational purposes. He utilized shot fakes and refined post moves to get clean looks. Bill Walton won the following awards and honors: NAISMITH AWARDS: Player of the Year | Coach of the Year | Defensive Player of the Year, Louisville coach Denny Crum: "Bill Walton is just amazing. Bird said that if Walton felt healthy enough to play that it was good enough for him, as opposed to Lakers GM Jerry West, who was hedging his interest in Walton pending a doctor's report. Javascript is required for the selection of a player. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. School: UCLAPosition: CenterHeight: 6-11Weight: 210 poundsYears active: 1971-74NCAA tournament record: 11-1College averages: 20.3 points per game, 15.7 rebounds per game, 65.1% field goal shooting. He averaged 17.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 4.3 blocks in the first round series against the Bulls. He said of his efforts that day, "A complete failure on all levels, particularly as a human being. He was raised with siblings Bruce, Cathy and Andy. [108] He attended more than 850[109] Grateful Dead concerts, including traveling with the band to Egypt for its famous 1978 performance before the Pyramids (joining the band on drums),[110] and quotes Grateful Dead lyrics in TV and radio interviews. William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American television sportscaster and former professional basketball player. Overall in 197273, Walton averaged 20.4 points and 16.9 rebounds in 30 games on 65.0% shooting, as UCLA again finished 300 (140 in the Pac-8 conference). He only played in ten games during the season. 4.1Portland Trail Blazers (1974-1979) 4.1.1Injury-plagued early years (1974-1976) 4.1.2First championship and Finals MVP (1976-1977) 4.1.3MVP campaign and holdout (1977-1979) 4.2San Diego Clippers (1979-1985) 4.3Boston Celtics (1985-1987) 4.3.1Second championship and sixth man award (1985-1986) 4.3.2Injury-plagued final playing year (1986-1987) "When that happened, he'd tell me and I'd take him out. I had three different periods of my life in my relationship with him: (1) when I was a high school student and he was recruiting me; (2) when I played for him when I was 17 to 21; (3) and then 36 years of being his friend. Walton was named the 1972 NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player. Walton was a consensus All-American alongside Ernie DiGregorio of Providence, Ed Ratleff of Long Beach State, David Thompson of North Carolina State, and Kermit Washington of American. Join our linker program. Bill Walton led a dynasty to two national championships, and an 88-game winning streak that no men's team has yet to touch. A bronze statue of Walton was unveiled at Ski Beach Park in San Diego, California's. Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III Twitter : BillWalton (Big Red, Grateful Red, Red Baron, Redwood, Chief) Position: Center Shoots: Right 6-11 , 210lb (211cm, 95kg) More bio, uniform, draft, salary info Hall of Fame 2x All Star 1976-77 TRB Champ 1976-77 BLK Champ 2x NBA Champ 2x All-NBA 2x All-Defensive 1976-77 Finals MVP 1977-78 MVP "[8], "When they would begin to rough up Bill, I would look at coach and he would give me a nod", recalled Bruce. After being selected as the first overall pick in the 1974 NBA draft, Walton led the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA championship in 1977, earning the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award that season. "[98], Chris Walton played for San Diego State. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [84], While broadcasting a WashingtonOregon January 2019 game with Dave Pasch, Walton mentioned he had appeared in the motion picture Ghostbusters. [25][26][23], Walton's political personality was alive in his collegiate years on the UCLA campus. [70][71] Some saw it as a political statement given Waltons opposition to the Vietnam War, but the most likely reason for his decision was his bad experience at the 1970 world championships. "I didn't want to play and I told Coach Wooden that. Walton recalled Elvin Hayes calling and telling his mother, "Tell Billy, Big E is calling and we need him to open the gym tonight. [15] In addition, Walton's 825 rebounds that season ranks No 3 all-time. "He would simply get too tired", recalled Nash. Wooden would become a lifetime mentor to Walton. 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