![]() ![]() As a collegian, he suffered tendinitis in his knees and injured his back. While at Helix High School in La Mesa, Calif., Walton broke an ankle, a leg, and several bones in his feet and underwent knee surgery. Walton’s career-long struggle with injury and pain began even before he achieved fame at UCLA. Wooden’s Bruins, which also included future NBA star Keith Wilkes (later Jamaal Wilkes), posted an 86-4 record and won two national titles during Walton’s years on the team. In the 1973 NCAA championship game against Memphis State, Walton made 21 of 22 shots and scored 44 points - a performance considered by many to be the greatest ever in a Final Four game. Those who knew Walton the basketball player recognized him as a devastating force. I worried when he was thrown in jail with the group that took over the administration building, I worried when he stopped traffic on Wilshire Boulevard, and when he interrupted classes giving his views on the Vietnam War.” “I had no problem with him during the season,” Wooden told the Los Angeles Times. Many who knew Walton, including Wooden himself, felt the young center was too susceptible to fringe ideas. It can’t buy happiness, and I just want to be happy.” My generation is trying to straighten it out. A fan of the Grateful Dead, the young Walton was a vegetarian, wore flannel shirts and multicolored headbands and toted his gym clothes in an onion bag.Īfter his arrest as a junior, Walton issued a statement that read: “Your generation has screwed up the world. ![]() While at UCLA in the early ’70s, he was arrested during an anti-Vietnam War rally, publicly criticized Richard Nixon and the FBI, and reportedly flirted with leaving basketball to pursue spiritual enlightenment. Walton first appeared on the national stage as a lanky college kid who exhibited a winning attitude on the court and an anti-establishment attitude off it. During his 13 years in the league, he played in only 44 percent of regular-season contests and left the game with a modest 13.3 scoring average.īill Walton's unique style and skills led him to 2 NBA championships during his Hall of Fame career. He was a perfectionist whose range of skills and dedication never ceased to impress those who saw him play.īut dozens of injuries, most infamously a chronically broken bone in his left foot, robbed Walton of the storybook career that seemed sure to be his. At the top of his form, Walton scored, passed, intimidated, hustled, and played the role of leader with the best centers of his day. He won the NBA Most Valuable Player award while playing for the defending NBA champion Trail Blazers in 1977-78. When he was healthy, Walton had few peers. “But Walton can do it all.”Īfter achieving superstardom playing for John Wooden’s powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early ’70s and winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, Walton was destined to become an NBA legend. Jack Ramsay, Walton’s coach in Portland, told Sport magazine. ![]() Wilt Chamberlain was a great offensive player,” Dr. During his prime as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers in the mid-1970s - a prime that lasted a mere three years - Walton drew comparisons to such players as Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell. Though remembered by many for a career plagued by injuries and a personal life spiced by controversy, Bill Walton won high praise from players and coaches alike during his checkered career. > Archive 75: Bill Walton | 75 Stories: Bill Walton Bill Walton was one of the best-passing big men in NBA history, able to facilitate championship-caliber offense. ![]()
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