Bill Walton dead at 71
- Thread starter Lucy01
- Start date
For those of us old enough to remember when UCLA beat IU in the FF, I despised Bill Walton (and pretty much everything about UCLA). Grew to love him when he played for the Celtics with Bird. And thoroughly enjoyed his off the wall announcing style. It’s a sad day when we lose an icon. He’ll be missed by many. 💔
RIP, kinda weird I was just thinking about him and that UCLA team being that I been working in Martinstucky and passed by John Woodens childhood home!
There were things that irked me about Walton. Not gonna lie. He hated IU and Coach Knight - and wasn’t afraid to say so….all because RMK made a point to cite Sam Gilbert’s influence at UCLA (which is ironic, I think Walton spilled the beans about Gilbert in a book).
However, a friend of mine hung out with him for a few hours one night in a club in LA. And he said that Walton couldn’t have been more approachable, personable, and just a lot of fun.
RIP
My favorite announcer and the biggest dead head, literally and figuratively. Say hi to Jerry ❤️
My repeat post from the premium board:
He certainly came out with some colorful expressions and analogies, and I found him to be a broadcaster that made the games enjoyable to follow, although I know some didn't care for him. He was the first player from the John Wooden era to finally admit that super booster Sam Gilbert was funneling a lot of cash and other benefits with a lot of $100 dollar handshakes which was a significant handshake at that time period. A lot of what Gilbert did back then would be okay nowadays through the NIL co-ops.
He certainly came out with some colorful expressions and analogies, and I found him to be a broadcaster that made the games enjoyable to follow, although I know some didn't care for him. He was the first player from the John Wooden era to finally admit that super booster Sam Gilbert was funneling a lot of cash and other benefits with a lot of $100 dollar handshakes which was a significant handshake at that time period. A lot of what Gilbert did back then would be okay nowadays through the NIL co-ops.
Kinda weird is an understatement but he will be missed. One of a kind for sure.
Can't say I was a fan of his as a player or broadcaster, but he was a unique character and was different than the boring broadcasters that pretend to know much about a team.
My lasting memory will be the cameo role he played in Little Nicky with his hair on fire. Nobody else would have been perfect for that role.
My lasting memory will be the cameo role he played in Little Nicky with his hair on fire. Nobody else would have been perfect for that role.
I don't know I guess you need a special gene to consider his announcing skills as achievement. To me he came off as pompous and egotistical. I attempted to watch many games he held a mic before I quit the torture. But I gotta add there are a lot of people in sports broadcasting who are "called" announcers. Not my cup of tea.
Loved the guy until was trying to watch an IU game in Maui I think, and he did an interview with Bruce Hornsby and the range that lasted the entire 2nd half, and their big heads were on the tv and the game was in a little box on the corner
I enjoyed his announcing in the 90s-even though he seemed to have a grudge with Reggie and those Pacer teams. He and Steve Snapper Jones would really go at each other on air.
The game sucked. It was for 7th place. The Range did not participate. It was a great story. Bill and Bruce are raconteurs.
VanPastorMan
Hall of Famer
Bill wasn't really weird. If we all smoked that much pot we would act the same way. In these latter years it seemed to me that when he did games it was a distraction from the game itself because he would talk about Jerry Garcia etc. All in all I think Bill was a good man.
Kind of like watching when Vin Scully was calling Dodger games. The game became secondary to the stories
I was thinking back to watching Walton and UCLA play Memphis State in the 1973 Championship Game. Watching on a small Black and White TV in my dorm room at the University of Wisconsin. My memory was that Walton had a great shooting percentage in that game, and his point guard Greg Lee had a huge number of Assists. Pulled up the old Box Score. Walton was 21 of 22 from the field for 44 points while Lee had 14 Assists.
RIP Big Red. Not always a Walton fan, he was not a fan of IU, RMK, the B1G. Seeing the PAC10 dissolve and having UCLA join the B1G set him into a panic. But there are good guys, and bad guys, in this world. Walton was one of the good guys. And one of the best NCAA big men, ever. The numbers speak for themselves.
Just further proof that Keith Richards sold his soul to the devil sometime in the early-mid 1970s.
Just further proof that Keith Richards sold his soul to the devil sometime in the early-mid 1970s.
VanPastorMan
Hall of Famer
Who was the comedian who said that if we have a nuclear war that the only things to survive would be cockroaches and Keith Richards?
I find it awkward to critique the recently departed, but I was never a fan of his announcing style. When he would start name-dropping and get in those long-winded stories, you could just forget about following the game. But he was a great player and by all accounts, a good man. RIP. Bill.
Make every player that's played in the NBA available for an all-generational draft. Not knowing of professional accomplishments. Imagine every team was starting from scratch, I don't care what era this would be the top 5 choices.
1. Kareem
2. Wilt
3. Walton
4. Wembanya
5. Magic
I remember the first time I watched Holmgren jog bag to the defensive end during a dead ball, I thought 1974 Bill Walton. Bill was 195 lbs maybe when he came in the league. He never ate and with the amount of weed he smoked, how was that possible? He was great.
1. Kareem
2. Wilt
3. Walton
4. Wembanya
5. Magic
I remember the first time I watched Holmgren jog bag to the defensive end during a dead ball, I thought 1974 Bill Walton. Bill was 195 lbs maybe when he came in the league. He never ate and with the amount of weed he smoked, how was that possible? He was great.
I enjoy radio baseball broadcasts qhen an old player or manager shares stories while calling the game. Baseball allows for this because there are gaps that didn't take away from calling the game. That style doesn't work for basketball and why I couldn't listen to Walton very long. What IU player did he compare to Adonis? I remember turning the sound off and finding Don Fischer on the radio. It might have been the start of how I have watched our games for many years.
