Bill Walton helped Rick Carlisle earn NBA title and also win over future wife on first date

Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle poured out his heart Monday night when he started reflecting on the impact of Bill Walton.

He recalled how Walton’s arrival helped turn the 1985-86 Boston Celtics into an NBA title team for the ages. Carlisle explained how playing with Walton extended his own career and how Walton’s generosity even helped Carlisle impress his future wife on their first date.

Perhaps no event showed more about Walton’s character than the moment Carlisle asked for tickets to a 1987 Grateful Dead concert in suburban Washington.

“I said, ‘Look, I’ve got a date with a girl I think is really cool, I’d love to go to the Dead show at Capital Centre, but I don’t have any tickets, can you help?’” Carlisle recounted of the band’s tallest fan. “He said, ‘Just go to the back door, ask for Dennis McNally, tell him you’re Rick Carlisle from the Boston Celtics and everything will be just fine.’ I said, ‘Really?‘”

When the skeptical Carlisle pulled onto the loading dock, he jumped out of the car, walked down the ramp and asked his date, Donna, to wait for him to return.

“She said, ‘What, don’t you have tickets?’ I said, ‘Just give me a couple minutes here.’ So I walked down (the ramp), I knocked on the door, the whole thing ended up working out. I walked back up the loading dock ramp with two all-access laminates, one said Bill Walton, the other said Susie Walton.“

Eventually, Carlisle and Donna walked through a stage door and had a low-key conversation with group members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart. It was a moment, and a gesture, Carlisle never forgot from someone who became a lifelong friend.

Carlisle married his date from that night 13 years later, and the bond between Walton and Carlisle only became stronger over the years.