Remembering Bill Walton (and the time he called a Kentucky game)
The basketball world has lost an icon. NBA and broadcasting legend Bill Walton has passed away at the age of 71 after a long battle with cancer, the NBA announced this afternoon.
On the court, Walton was a two-time NBA champion and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, leading UCLA to national championships in 1972 and 1973. His storied playing career was matched only by his career after it. In 2002, Walton joined ESPN as a lead analyst for NBA games before switching over to college basketball in 2012. He made another name for himself as a zany color commentator alongside longtime announcing partner Dave Pasch, calling mostly Pac-12 games.
A self-professed hippie, Walton injected life into the late-night games, entertaining fans with hilarious, out-of-this-world asides, one-liners, and antics. Of the millions of Bill Walton clips out there, this may be the most memorable.
Amazingly, Walton only called one Kentucky game, vs. Utah in Las Vegas in December 2019. The Cats lost that game 69-66, the first of back-to-back defeats in Sin City. Kentucky’s abysmal play and the fact that the game started at 11 p.m. ET didn’t exactly put the BBN in the mood for Walton’s wackiness. In retrospect, the clips are hilarious.
Walton was nowhere more in his prime than the Maui Invitational. Nothing said Feast Week like watching Walton go way off topic late night in Maui.
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Walton loved the Maui Invitational so much that he asked a question many in BBN have asked in the last decade: why doesn’t Kentucky participate anymore?
“Can we please get Kentucky here,” Walton asked in 2018. “Why aren’t they here like now? This is my fourth Maui Jim and I haven’t seen Kentucky here at all. I love Kentucky. I want to see them here.”
Same, Bill. Same. Let’s honor Bill by going back to Maui and watching more clips. Rest In Peace, legend.
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