Two-time NBA champion and Helix High alum, Bill Walton passed away on May 27 from cancer.
Walton was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season, a two-time champion and a member of both the NBA’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams.WASHINGTON — Bill Walton, who starred for John Wooden's UCLA Bruins before becoming a Hall of Fame center for his NBA career and one of the biggest stars in basketball broadcasting, died Monday, the league announced. Walton, who had a prolonged fight with cancer, was 71.
“It’s very hard to put into words what he has meant to UCLA’s program, as well as his tremendous impact on college basketball," UCLA coach Mick Cronin said Monday."Beyond his remarkable accomplishments as a player, it’s his relentless energy, enthusiasm for the game and unwavering candor that have been the hallmarks of his larger than life personality.
Turns out, he was excellent at that, too: Walton was an Emmy winner, eventually was named one of the top 50 sports broadcasters of all time by the American Sportscasters Association and even appeared on The New York Times' bestseller list for his memoir, “Back from the Dead." It told the story of a debilitating back injury suffered in 2008, one that left him considering taking his own life because of the constant pain, and how he spent years recovering.
And the Pac-12 Conference, which has basically evaporated in many ways now because of college realignment, was another of his many loves. He always referred to it as the “Conference of Champions” and loved it all the way to the end.
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