Legendary UCLA and Hall of Fame NBA center and current ESPN/Pac 12 broadcaster Bill Walton passed away on Monday of cancer the family announced. He was 71.
His career accolades as a player began at UCLA (1971-74), where Walton played under John Wooden and was a three-time National Collegiate Player of the Year and also a three-time All-American. He also won two national championships with the Bruins, and in those years was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player (1972, 73). Among his achievements in the NBA, Walton was a two-time champion (Portland Trailblazers 76-77, Boston Celtics 85-86), NBA Finals MVP (77), NBA MVP (77-78), two-time NBA All-Star (76-77, 77-78), and an NBA Sixth Man of the Year (85-86). Walton had his jersey #32 retired by the Trailblazers, and is also part of the NBA 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
The broadcasting career for Walton began in 1990 after he retired as a player. In the course of the last 34 years, he has worked for CBS, NCAA on CBS, NBC, the Los Angeles Clippers, ABC/ESPN, and the Sacramento Kings. Since July 2012, he’s been the full-time analyst for college basketball coverage on ESPN and the Pac 12 Network.
