The death of Bill Walton, one of the greatest basketball players of all time deeply saddened me and broke my heart. Walton, who was 6’-11” tall, was known as the Gentle Giant. Throughout his lifetime, Walton was outspoken on political issues and this made him a very special athlete.

In college, he led UCLA to two NCAA championships, in 1972 and 1973. In the 1973 NCAA title game against Memphis State, Walton scored 44 points while making 21 out of 22 shots and had 13 rebounds and 7 blocks in what is considered as the greatest performance in an NCAA title game. During his time at UCLA, his team won 88 consecutive games. As an NBA player, he won two championships and was the NBA Finals MVP in 1977 while playing for the Portland Trailblazers. He was the league’s MVP in 1978.

Throughout most of his professional career, Walton was hampered by a serious foot injury. Despite that, he was able to come back and help lead the Boston Celtics to an NBA Championship in 1986, where he was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.

But it was his politics and his basketball announcing that made him one of the good people. When most people think about Bill Walton, they do not think about his sports accomplishments, they think about his humanity, his love of the people, his love of life, and his special love of the outdoors on the West Coast. 

He was a political activist and took many stands against the U.S. government. While at UCLA he was arrested for protesting the Vietnam War. In the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary series on Walton, The Luckiest Guy in the World,¹  he recounts how he sent a letter in the name of his coach John Wooden to President Richard Nixon, recounting “all his [Nixon’s] crimes against humanity, and [he] closed it with a demand that he [Nixon] resign.”

When the FBI tried to question him about a friend’s alleged political activities, Walton held a press conference where he said, “I’ll never talk to the enemy [the FBI] again… Analyzing this country and its relationship to the rest of the world, thinking people should only be turned against the present government and its agencies.”²

Walton argued that athletes should speak out on political issues. “Sports encompasses all aspects of life… It’s unfortunate when people use the argument that it is not a platform for politics… I believe you can’t stop and put sports in a vacuum. Just because people are involved in a special thing like sports, that doesn’t prevent them from taking a position… Protesting is what gets things done. The drive for positive change requires action. The forces of evil don’t just change their ways.”³

I have very fond memories of Walton as a basketball analyst, and I always tuned into games when he was announcing. His commentaries would bring a smile to your face. There are two that I remember.

He once announced a University of Arizona game when his son, Luke, played for Arizona. Luke made a bad play, and Bill shouted into the microphone in a voice that only he could make, “Walton! What were you thinking?” 

When he announced a Cal game in Berkeley, he got really excited about being in Berkeley, and again he shouted into the mic, “Berkeley! The Greek Theatre on the Cal campus! The Grateful Dead! Mario Savio walking up on the stage!” I really loved that statement, because to me it really represented Bill Walton. First off, he loved Berkeley and what it represented politically. Second, he had a great love for the Grateful Dead. He said that he “attended 1,000 of their concerts,” and most likely attended all 29 of their concerts at the Cal Greek Theatre. “Mario Savio walking up on the stage” of the Greek Theatre is a very famous incident during the Free Speech struggle at Cal. As Clark Kerr, the President of the University, gave a speech to tell students how the administration was going to deal with the demands of the Free Speech Movement, Mario Savio, the leader of that movement, walked onto the stage in an attempt to get to the microphone. He was pounced on by Berkeley cops and dragged off the stage.⁴

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, another basketball great, summed up Bill Walton’s life on X (formerly Twitter): “My very close friend, fellow Bruin and NBA rival Bill Walton died today. And the world feels so much heavier now. On the court, Bill was a fierce player, but off the court, he wasn’t happy unless he did everything he could to make everyone around him happy. He was the best of us.”

For me there is one Walton quote that sums up his life. Bill was once asked what his favorite color was. He said, “My favorite color is rainbow; the rainbow of life.” Bill Walton’s life was a rainbow—a life full of wonderful bright colors.