How does a player who spent 14 seasons in the NBA with only two all-star selections still end up in the Hall of Fame? He also missed 60% of his games due to injury. If you add up all the games he actually played, it only adds up to 5.5 years of basketball in a 14-year career. That means that he got paid for 8.5 years’ worth of games that he did not even play in.
This is the story of Bill Walton’s feet.
If it had not been for his feet, then players like Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Steph Curry, or Kawhi Leonard may have had their careers cut short due to their own ankle and foot injuries. Each of those players dealt with nagging injuries that were eventually resolved. Hill and Nash are now in the Hall of Fame and I have no doubt that Steph and Kawhi are also headed for Springfield.
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Worst Feet Ever
You see, the thing about Bill Walton’s feet is that they seemed to have been designed by a supervillain with an evil sense of humor. From the knees up his body is perfect for basketball. He is 6’11” with extremely long arms. He had incredible balance and speed.
You know how some people say that white men can’t jump? Well, Walton could jump. He could practically touch the top of the backboard. He had nearly every physical gift that an NBA player could ask for. Even more importantly he had a mind for the game. If you have ever noticed, when you look at a list of anyone’s top 20 players of all time, the list is filled with some of the most athletically gifted men to ever come through the NBA.
But, if you put together a list of the top 20 smartest players to ever play, it is virtually the same list, with maybe just a few exceptions. The ultra-successful players like Bill Russel, Jordan, Magic, Duncan, Kobe, and LeBron are the rare few who matched ultimate athletic ability with some of the smartest minds to ever come through the NBA. Bill Walton was that kind of player.
Unfortunately for Walton, below the knees, his body was designed to be a toll booth operator. When most people go jogging the first part of the foot to hit the ground is the heel. The impact is then absorbed by the combination of muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
In most cases everything is fine. But Walton’s heels do not flex the way that they are supposed to. Some of the tendons are simply too short. It is like stringing a bow with a string that just is not long enough. It puts too much stress on the bow. In Walton’s case, all of the impact from running went straight into the bones of his feet.
It caused his bones to grind against each other in a very unnatural way. He was, literally, wearing them down with each step and jump that he took.
And he took a lot of steps.
He put his body through countless training sessions and games starting at the age of eight until he was 36 years old when he played his final season for the Celtics.
What is so odd about it is that his condition is not hereditary. Nobody else in his family has foot issues. His older brother, Bruce, was also a professional athlete. He played offensive line for the Dallas Cowboys.
Walton Was a Walking Medical Expirement
Walton would have over 30 surgeries over the course of his professional career. To complicate the matter, stress fractures were not really understood in the 1970s. Many of the procedures he went through were experimental. A ton of orthopedic knowledge about the foot and ankle was gained from working on Walton’s feet.
Much of the medical knowledge used to treat players today comes from the case studies of Walton’s feet back in the 1970s and 1980s. I could argue that Walton’s feet should have their own place in the Hall of Fame as contributors to the game of basketball.
Players today are now recovering more often from similar issues and going on to have full careers.
Bill Walton, The Man
But, let’s talk about Bill Walton himself. He was raised in San Diego, California by academic parents. They did not have a television in the house, they listened almost exclusively to classical music, and they were constantly reading highly intellectual works.
Athletes, they were not. They could not understand why their kids wanted to go outside and play sports all the time. To the parents, it seemed so trivial. Why not come inside and read the works of Socrates or listen to Mozart?
Bill Walton, The Player
But, little Bill Walton just fell in love with the game of basketball and felt its call on his life. If you listen to him in interviews he talks about the game of basketball in almost spiritual terms. He wanted nothing else but to grow up and be a professional basketball player.
It gave him a joy like nothing else. He once went to a basketball camp in 6th grade where John Wooden was a guest speaker. He knew right then that he wanted to go to UCLA and play for Coach Wooden. What is more impressive is that at the time of this camp, Wooden had yet to win his first national championship. Walton just really liked the passion that Wooden spoke with when talking about this amazing game.
Walton played at Helix High School in San Diego and won a championship alongside his brother, Bruce. When Bruce graduated Bill won a couple of more championships as the new leader of the team. Walton was recruited by every school in the country.
He could go anywhere he wanted. As he would pour over those recruiting letters many of the schools were offering a guaranteed starting spot or money under the table. He dumped those letters in the trash and removed those schools from consideration. Any school offering him money illegally was not a place that he wanted to go to.
He continued to annihilate Southern California high school basketball and was contacted by Denny Crum, who was still an assistant coach at UCLA under John Wooden. Crum came to see him play many times. However Wooden had a general policy of never going to scout players himself. That was the job of the assistants.
But, in Walton’s case, Crum convinced Wooden that he should make an exception. So Wooden went to see Walton play and then later visited with the Walton family in their home. Wooden told young Bill that he was not there to convince any player to come to UCLA. He only wanted players who already wanted to come to UCLA. Further, Wooden would not guarantee anyone anything. Playing time at UCLA is earned.
This was exactly what Walton wanted to hear. At the time that Wooden sat in Walton’s living room, he had already won five championships and was just a few weeks away from winning his sixth.
UCLA Bruins
It also did not hurt that his big brother, Bruce, was already playing on the football team at UCLA. It would be nice for Bill to be able to see his brother more often. While at UCLA he had one of the most successful college careers ever. He won the Naismith National Player of the Year award three times. The only reason he did not win it four times was that at the time freshmen were not eligible to play on the varsity.
So, he had to watch from the stands as the older players won the 7th national championship for UCLA. But after that, Walton was able to join the varsity where he helped them win their 8th and 9th national championships.
Portland Trail Blazers
He was the obvious choice with the first pick in the draft, held by the Portland Trail Blazers. That was when the stress fractures started. He only played in 35 games as a rookie. It would not get much better after that. In 1977 his feet held up pretty well.
He played 65 games and the entire playoffs as he led the team over the Philadelphia 76ers to win Portland’s first and only NBA championship. He took home the Finals MVP award and had one of the greatest single seasons in NBA history. His specialty was the outlet pass.
He was an incredible rebounder and would often grab the ball off the glass and turn in one motion. He would then fire the ball out like a bullet. All of his teammates always knew that as soon as it looked like Walton had the rebound to start sprinting down court Walton could find you. But, with each step and jump he continued to wear down the bones in his feet. He began to play fewer and fewer games each season.
San Diego Clippers
He began to bounce around the league a bit. He was moved to the San Diego Clippers, which was more of a favor to him so that he could play in his hometown, but the team was awful and Walton sat on the bench in street clothes way more often than he did in a uniform.
He subjected himself to surgery after surgery in a desperate attempt to finally fix his feet so that he could play the game he loved at the level he knew he was capable of.
Boston Celtics
In 1985 there was a chance for him to go to the Celtics and join Larry Bird. But he was under no illusion that he would become the star there. He even had a sit down with Robert Parish, the Celtics all-star center, and told him that he was the starter and that Walton was there to be the backup and just do whatever he could for the team.
According to Walton, this was his single favorite year of NBA basketball. Every single player on the team was focused on winning a championship. Any individual awards were of secondary importance.
His feet held up magnificently. He played 80 out of 82 games that year, the most he had ever played in one year. The Celtics steamrolled their way to the 16th title in their team’s history and the 2nd for Walton personally. He earned his spot as a true Celtic.
Anytime the Celtics bring back the alumni for a jersey retirement or any other team celebration, Walton is included with the other Celtic greats from the past.
The End of His Career
And then his feet betrayed him yet again. He only played 10 games after that championship and was done for good. He cried when he had to tell the team that he could not do it anymore. His feet could no longer take it. A few years later he had surgery to fuse together the bones in his feet.
That would prevent future injuries, but it meant that he could no longer do anything active ever again. He walks without assistance, but he is no longer able to go hiking, which was a favorite activity of his. He is not able to even shoot baskets in the driveway, which was his first love.
The Stutter
So what to do next? He turned to broadcasting. He was otherwise qualified to be a basketball commentator due to his deep knowledge and experience in the game. But, he also had a pronounced stutter. He hated being interviewed as a younger player because he had trouble getting the words out.
And now he wanted to go into broadcasting where he was going to have to get lots of words out. So he poured himself completely into becoming a better speaker, just like he did when he wanted to become a better player.
If you have ever heard him speak, he speaks in very slow, measured tones, like he is concentrating to make sure he pronounces each word correctly.
Had he been healthy his entire career, we would talk about him in the same breath as Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, and Russel. It is too bad his feet just could not take the beating. But when he was healthy he played the game at a level that few players ever reach. He really was that good. If you love basketball like the rest of us aficionados do, then there is a bit of sadness that we did not get to see him play more.
He was truly one of the greats. He deserves to be remembered as such.
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