An unmistakable 6-foot-11 inch example of embracing the here and now could be found this week perched on a stool in the fifth-floor gym of the Missouri Athletic Club.
Bill Walton, sporting a bolo tie and a polo that carried the logo of his beloved Pac-12 Conference — who else could pull off that combo? – wore a smile as big as, well, him.
Walton was on a basketball court, talking hoops with fellow basketball junkies. Life was grand.
Naismith College Player of the Year Zach Edey came over and gave Walton a respectful fist bump. Purdue coach Matt Painter stopped by to say hello. Former Notre Dame coach Mike Brey joined a couple of reporters who were talking to Walton, asking questions along with them, as Walton took his audience on a journey of a conversation that touched on everything from legendary UCLA coach John Wooden to Cardinals baseball and his favorite band, the Grateful Dead.
I came with two questions for Walton, who was here to serve as the featured speaker at Wednesday night’s U.S. Basketball Writers Association awards banquet.
Could it be true that he has never, ever watched the full replay of one of the most dominant sports performances ever performed in St. Louis?
Walton, some of you will remember, scored 44 points to lead Wooden’s UCLA squad to the NCAA Tournament championship against Memphis State on March 26, 1973, at The Arena. It was an NCAA championship game record. Still is, 50 years later.
“We couldn't contain Walton,” Memphis State coach Gene Bartow told The New York Times after UCLA’s 87-66 win, its 75th in a row. “I've never seen a player so dominating as Walton.”
He missed just one shot but got that rebound, one of his game-high 13, and put it back in. He would have gone 25 for 26 instead of 21 for 22 had four baskets not been nullified for offensive goaltending. Walton dunked those ones, and dunking wasn’t allowed at the time.
Those who saw it will never, ever forget it. Those who didn’t see it should find it. It’s an all-time great sports moment, and it happened right here.
“I remember that game,” Brey told Walton on Wednesday. “Twenty-one for 22 from the floor.”
Walton shrugged.
“We won the game,” Walton said.
Yes, that story about him never watching it again since, not even once, is true.
“I’ve got it in my mind,” Walton said. “I lived it. And I played it.”
And he remembers it, in striking detail, down to UCLA teammates Greg Lee and Larry Hollyfield combining for 23 assists.
My second question for Walton, now 70, was about not back then, but right now.
There is this natural trend, perhaps you have noticed, where the older you get, the more you tend to glorify the past and dismiss the present. We see it in life. We see it in sports. The two often have similarities.
We do it with music, with fashion, with anything and everything, really.
We especially do it with sports.
Some former players (and current fans) love complaining about the current versions of their sports more than they love their sports.
“I loved college basketball,” Walton said. “That was my dream. I knew I was going to play in the NBA. I had started playing against NBA players when I was 14 years old. Nothing changed our family more — nothing — than the fact my older brother, Bruce, now deceased, and I both got athletic scholarships to go to UCLA. He was the football player. I was the basketball player. And that just changed everything for our entire family. It lifted a great burden off my parents, the greatest parents ever.”
Walton loved college basketball so much he turned down the chance to go pro after his NCAA championship domination. Think a future Hall of Famer would make that choice these days? No chance.
College basketball is now the name, image and likeness express. It’s transfer-portal-palooza. Any player who can sniff the NBA tends to jump as early as possible, sometimes missing the draft entirely.
True centers don’t dominate the block and instead do everything possible to prove they can shoot threes and handle the ball.
But Walton isn’t bitter. Far from it. The opposite of it.
He sings the praises of the game, often into his headset from his courtside seat as a philosopher who happens to be a broadcaster. He’s excited about how the game has evolved and eager to see where it’s headed.
“I love young people trying to build their lives and create their dreams,” he said. “Use basketball to make a better life for themselves, their families, and to make the world a better place. Today’s players are just remarkable. The skill level. The physical fitness and all of the advantages they have. We had the best that was available. Things have changed.”
In a way, Walton’s view of the game compares to his view of the Grateful Dead.
No one can replace the late, great Jerry Garcia. But if you go see Dead & Company, you will find that John Mayer can play the heck out of a guitar, way more than you hear in his radio pop songs. Great things can change and still be great, and greatness in the past doesn’t have to make the present, or the future, bad.
Dead and Company’s final tour starts next month.
Walton said he plans on attending at least 20 of the shows.
