Bill Walton, 71, legendary UCLA and NBA star and broadcaster, has died

He quickly became recognized nationally for his innovative play at center — a versatile big man who could not only score but expertly pass, shot-block, rebound and run the fast break. But his time at UCLA was marked by more than athletics prowess. He was a committed activitst during the Vietnam War era, and he became well known around campus for his freewheeling ways and political stances.

“I was UCLA’s easiest recruit ever, and I sadly became John Wooden’s worst nightmare. I embarrassingly drove the poor guy to an early grave at 99,” Walton jokingly told UCLA Magazine in 2019.

In truth, it wasn’t his advocacy that troubled Wooden. It was his trademark unruly mop of orange hair and beard that ran up against the coach’s clear rules.

“I had a rule against facial hair for players,” Wooden recalled. “I didn’t want hair or sweat getting in a player’s eyes and obstructing his vision. One day, Bill Walton came to practice wearing a beard. I said, ‘Bill, have you forgotten something?’ He said, ‘Coach, I think I should be allowed to wear it. It’s my right.’ So I asked him, ‘Do you believe in that strongly?’ He said, ‘Yes, I do, coach.’ I said to him, ‘Bill, I have great respect for individuals who stand up for those things in which they believe. And the team is going to miss you.’”

Walton said he duly stepped away, shaved and returned to practice.

“I realized the gigantic mistakes that I had made, and I spent the rest of my life trying to make it up to Coach Wooden and trying to stop causing him grief and consternation,” Walton said. “I’m just super-lucky that he was as patient a person as he was.”

In later years, Walton became a confidant of Wooden and would often take his children to the coach’s Encino apartment for “lessons on life” that he’d learned four decades before.

“It has been 36 years since I graduated from UCLA,” he said in 2010. “I have spent those years trying to duplicate that incredible period in my life. Our family home, where it all began so many years ago in San Diego, to this day is still a shrine to John Wooden, with UCLA memorabilia, the Pyramid of Success and pictures of the Coach everywhere.”

Outside of basketball, Walton relished the experiences UCLA offered.

“When I was young and the tallest guy in the class, I always had to sit in the back row. At UCLA, I sat in the front row,” he said. “I rode my bike right into the classroom and parked my bike up next to the teacher’s podium and just sat in the front row and just was in awe of their ability to deliver these magical lectures. I never missed a class. I never missed a movie. I never missed a concert, never missed a lunchtime lecture, never missed a rally.”

Walton concluded his collegiate basketball career in Westwood having broken multiple school records. A three-time All-Pac-8 selection, he was honored as a consensus first-team All-America selection in all three varsity seasons. To this day, he ranks among the top 10 leaders in program history in several statistical categories. He stands at No. 1 on UCLA’s career rebounding list with 1,370 and ranks No. 13 in career points scored with 1,767. He also earned Academic All-America acclaim all three years on the varsity team.