Bill Walton- Lunch With Bill

It is with great sadness finding that Bill Walton passed away today. Even though we were the same age, he was definitely a hero for me. It was a golden age for college men's basketball, and UCLA and Bill Walton were the standard bearers. Bill Walton was the best college player during my lifetime- hands down. 

Freshmen were not eligible to play at that time. His first two teams at UCLA were National Champs going 30-0 each year. His junior year, they beat Memphis State in the championship game with Walton going for 44 points on 21-22 from the field. And realize the rules outlawed the dunk- so they were all shots at the basket. 

Walton described his toughest loss was his senior year at Notre Dame, which ended an 88 UCLA winning streak. I had the good fortune to go to the NCAA West Regional in 1974. I got to see their practice, and got to go to two of their games. The second game was Bill Walton's last college win as they went onto lose to North Carolina State and David Thompson in the NCAA Semi-Finals.

It was years later I got to meet and "hang out" with Bill Walton for one weekend in Waukesha, Wisconsin at Carroll University. Bill Walton ran a "Big Man Camp" at Carroll thru the Milwaukee Bucks Camp organization. Dan Sullivan's father was one of the organizer of the camp. Dan was a Knox College grad, and long-time coach at Brimfield and Princeville. I became friends with Dan after working summers at the Bucks Camps. Dan invited me to go along to Waukesha for the weekend. 

My brother, Mark with Bill Walton in Clinton, Ia

Bill Walton was down to earth kind of guy, he did not act like a star. If you asked him a question on the court, he would treat your question with respect. He had fun, he would tell funny stories, and even laugh at our jokes. As for basketball, even though he had been in the pros for several years (he was with Celtics at the time), he would refer back to John Wooden. He would tell the campers- "Be quick, but don't hurry." 

Over the weekend, we had lunch and supper each day. The conversations included him explaining his diet and the importance of eating correctly, his passion for biking, and how wonderful it was to play for UCLA and Coach Wooden. After listening him talk about Coach Wooden, I could only smile later in life when I heard he wrote Wooden quotes on each of his son's sack lunches for school. The tradition at the schools was for the Walton boys to stand on their cafeteria chair and read the quote to the entire cafeteria.  

One evening at supper, I asked him what the deal was with Patty Hearst. At the time, I wasn't meaning to be a smart aleck or disrespectful, but I later realized that indeed I was being disrespectful. For that, I wish I could go back and not ask that question. Even so, Walton quietly and patiently explained to me that, "I am not sure what was going on, it was a case where you have friends and you don't always know their friends."

The one thing that was certain after that weekend, Bill Walton was a man of passion and enthusiasm. There was nothing lukewarm about him. During this weekend I never heard him once mention about any of individual achievements, but he just glowed in telling stories about UCLA and the Boston Celtics. He had such enthusiasm for talking about Larry Bird and Kevin McCale. His enthusiasm was contagious.

Later in life when he became an announcer, his enthusiasm was off the charts. The game was secondary to his great sense of humor. I challenge you to google Bill Walton and see if you can pictures where he doesn’t have that huge infectious smile. He loved life. 

When I think about Bill Walton, I think of the following quote from Bill Walton:

"My whole life, my dream was to be part of something special. I never really had any interest in being a star. I just wanted to play on a great team."

Rest in Peace- Bill Walton. You made a lot of teams- great teams!