Dang it. We need more Bill Waltons in this world right now. On Memorial Day, America’s giant redheaded source of joy passed away from cancer. Walton, age 71, left a treasure trove of witty, wise and loving words behind.
Walton frequently expressed his love of Colorado, and I was lucky enough to listen firsthand. We met in downtown Denver on April 28, 2017, at a charity luncheon for Jewish Family Services. I waited until the after-event line diminished. The Hall of Fame 6’11” center seemed in no hurry to leave his seat at the head table.
I approached, carrying Walton’s game-changing book, “Back from the Dead,” hoping for an autograph. I told the most injured man in NBA history (36 surgeries) how his book had inspired me. Energetic after making a superb presentation with fellow NBA Hall-of-Famer Bob Lanier and meeting hundreds of well-wishers, Bill and I just started talking.
He recalled attending Stanford Law School while nursing NBA injuries for several seasons. Neither one of us wanted to talk about back problems. We felt good, enjoying each other’s company, and were pumped up by our sharp discussion about law, dangerous Donald Trump, and our shared love of Colorado.
We spoke like long-lost pals, with him giving me his private number and agreeing to come on my Saturday morning radio show. Bill was in Boulder for a musical concert by what’s left of the Grateful Dead, and he waxed brilliantly and poetic about Colorado music, marijuana, basketball and current events.
After my radio days, Bill’s been on my podcast, including on June 2, 2023, as the Denver Nuggets entertained the Miami Heat. His first smiling words were, “I’m alive, Craig. The NBA finals are here. The Denver Nuggets are in it, and I am talking to Craig Silverman. What could be better?”
What could make a Colorado host feel better? We were off to the verbal races. Bill ran like a stallion. One prompt could get him going, and mine contemplated Bill’s connections to Colorado.
He referenced his favorite pioneering stars for Denver’s pro team of my teens, explaining his shared love for the ABA origin story. “You got Spencer Haywood and Ralph Simpson, two of my favorite players and people. And if you’ve never read Spencer’s book, ‘The Rise, The Fall, The Recovery,’ by Spencer Haywood, it will change your life forever, and you will never look at things in the world the same again.”
☀ MORE IN OPINION
Bill wanted to express his affection for Coach Larry Brown, Coach Doug Moe, Alex English, Kiki VanDeWeghe, Fat Lever, Michael Adams, Mike Evans, Dikembe Mutombo, LaPhonso Ellis, TR Dunn, David Thompson, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Bill Hanzlik, and his special affection for the courageous cancer survivor, Coach George Karl, who remains a Denverite.
Bill extolled open-heart-surgery survivor, 2023 Nuggets champion, Uncle Jeff Green, suddenly interjecting, “Craig, we have not talked about Jeff Green. And Jeff Green is one of the smartest dudes I have ever met in my entire life. And he is so poised and so confident.”
Bill Walton had contemplated death. In the throes of nightmarish back pain, Bill wrote in “Back from the Dead,” about being suicidal. In 2009, an 8.5-hour spine surgery revived him. So did Bill’s bike riding, a lifelong passion made spectacular at the 2103 USA Pro Challenge Race Experience in Colorado. That same year, son Luke Walton (an NBA player and head coach) was married in Aspen.
Bill vividly recalled when he rode special-fitted bicycles around Colorado, “We got to go to Breckenridge, Steamboat, Beaver Creek, Vail and Copper Mountain and all these different places. You go to Grand Junction and the Colorado Plateau. Telluride with the Grateful Dead and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, then Durango and Silverton and the Great Sand Dunes and all these remarkable places, Pagosa Springs and Dinosaur, which I absolutely love.”
Bill Walton associated the Colorado River Basin with his admiration for Nikola Jokić and the Serbian’s profound impact on the Denver Nuggets. He referenced where the Colorado River merges with the Little Colorado at the Marble Canyon entrance to the Grand Canyon. Two vastly different streams of water combined, with the Little Colorado full of sediment from ancient Navajo lands.
Bill raised his voice excitedly as he explained the confluence, “Everything changes! And it is one of the most visually spectacular scenes that I’ve ever witnessed with my own eyes. This one place just sticks out to me as I think of Nikola.”
Bill explained how deeply he loved Colorado. “I dream about Colorado. I visualize Colorado. And I see all the waterfalls coming down off the Rockies, and I see the Arkansas River flowing magnificently off the eastern slopes of the Continental Divide. And now we have Nikola Jokić leading the charge for the Denver Nuggets, just a most beautiful player, wonderful in so many ways. And he epitomizes Colorado. So what could be better?”
The world would be better if Bill Walton were still alive. His memory will bless his fellow bicyclists, concertgoers, broadcasters, basketball fans and freedom lovers everywhere.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun and an active Colorado trial lawyer with Craig Silverman Law, LLC.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.