May 27 – Today’s column fulfills a promise I made to Bill Walton.
Not that we’re friends or anything, or that I have any comprehensive view of his extraordinary life. But a promise is a promise.
Walton, in the pantheon of great college and professional basketball players, died of cancer on Memorial Day.
In January 2023, I was writing a series of columns about the exploits of Gonzaga’s All-America big man, Drew Timme.
Timme was such a charismatic and joyful player, endlessly creative on the track and on the baseline, and such a sensational teammate and university representative that it seemed almost every game required praise for his work.
But you can’t hit the same beat all season, so I wanted to find someone else to comment on Timme.
In some ways, in a slightly smaller font, Timme’s play was reminiscent of Walton’s at UCLA in the early 1970s.
I received some contact information from a friend in the media and sent Walton a message, asking if he could spare a few minutes of his valuable time to talk about Timme.
He got back to me immediately and went on for over half an hour in one of the most memorable, wild, and wide-ranging interviews of all time.
“I love Drew Timme,” Walton said. “He is an exuberant force of nature like few others. He plays with boundless enthusiasm, has an incredible level of skill, has a mind that separates him from the crowd… he has the creativity of a genius and has a very vivid vision imagination. And it’s super fun.
I didn’t tell him at the time, because when a source starts talking like that, you’re a fool for delaying him, but his description of Timme sounded a lot like a description of Walton himself.
His own exuberant comments, hyperbole and inconsistency have polarized some basketball broadcast viewers.
What critics forgot was that you cannot take poets or philosophers literally.
Some felt he wasn’t talking enough about the basketball game ahead. I don’t think they realized that he was talking, in a broader sense, about humanity, high aspirations and art – the things that, he obviously believed, were exemplified when the game of basketball was at its best.
A few times during the interview I had to bring him back for explanations.
“Our job as human beings is to try to make other people’s lives better – Drew Timme made my life better.”
Right what?
He explained that he could feel Timme’s “glorious” dreams when watching him play.
Huh?
“You can not?” he asked. “He’s a lot like Spokane Falls, he keeps moving forward, even the hardened lava can’t stop him or make him change direction. It’s fabulous.”
Analyst Bill Walton is not at a loss for words praising Gonzaga
Meet Bill Walton, big Gonzaga fan. Walton, college basketball’s most unique and unpredictable analyst, couldn’t have had more praise for the Zags in a five-minute interview before Gonzaga’s 77-73 victory over South Carolina on Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium. And he couldn’t have been a more vintage Walton. – See more information
Walton, a child of the 60s, was one of the most prominent athletes trying to effect social reform through his sport, and frequent protests, during that period of unrest.
What developed between Walton and his legendary coach John Wooden was a beautiful relationship based on respect, with occasional disagreements over cultural differences and the eventual learning from each other.
Some of the stories about the two were illustrated with photos of the elder Wooden being lifted by the 6-foot-2 Walton. I told him I thought their relationship and size difference seemed very similar to the wonderful collaboration Timme had with Zag coach Mark Few.
Mentioning Few to Walton provoked more excitement.
“What Mark Few did there is just exhilarating,” he said. “It makes you feel good about the world and our future, that we have a chance.”
I agreed that Mark Few’s greatness as a coach was indisputable. But does it have a global influence?
“When you watch Gonzaga basketball, they epitomize everything that is good in the world in terms of style, culture, identity, player development, fitness, the volcanic eruption begins…”
Once it got to the volcanic eruptions, it could be said that we could have surpassed the diversion.
But why wouldn’t Walton have a great perspective on life and its possibilities? He was a skinny kid with a speech impediment and profound introversion, but he became a spokesman for social causes, a Hall of Fame athlete, and one of the most mercurial speakers in any media outlet.
He played despite injuries, illnesses and pain, often amidst a chorus of criticism. But he still felt an ineffable, relentless joy in his world.
Yes, he spoke sometimes. But with purpose.
He taught, he interpreted, he entertained – translating the wonders of art, music, literature and philosophy through the prism of basketball.
He was larger than life. But not too big to share your time. And that’s where his greatness lies, from my perspective.
The man returned my call and, in addition, filled my notebook with great quotes and impressive analogies. He became the first elected member of my Interview Hall of Fame ever.
I was so grateful that I promised I would “forever write only kind words about Bill Walton.”
“I appreciate that,” he said, but then asked a fair question: “How old are you?”
When I confessed that I was a year older than him, he laughed, as if my promise probably wouldn’t do him much good when it came time to pay him a compliment.
It turns out so.
Thanks again, big guy.
