The world lost one of the best basketball players to ever play the game, Bill Walton, this holiday weekend. But he was so much more than that, too.
Although he was one of the greatest to step on the court, the legendary big man will be remembered for endless other aspects of his life as well. That includes his love for the Grateful Dead and his amazing career in the booth broadcasting games as a color commentator as well.
He was complemented (and often kept on track) by his longtime broadcasting partner, Dave Pasch. The play-by-play announcer shared his memories of his late friend, Bill, on Tuesday morning.
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Pasch posted a Twitter thread sharing screenshots of his texts with Walton. The two-time NBA champion had nicknames for himself (“Solar”) as well as Pasch (who he affectionally referred to as the nickname “Coal”).
Bill Walton’s nickname for me was “Coal”, and he would call himself “Solar”. He would playfully say I was living in the past, while he was the future. As I was going through many old texts from him, laughing my butt off, this one got me. Bill was an all time ball buster! pic.twitter.com/EejlTMzBKX
— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024
Walton would often text Pasch during games that he was broadcasting independently of the 1977 NBA Finals MVP with hilarious jokes about the game.
The big man would pretend he did not know that Pasch was on the call.
Bill would text me during games I was broadcasting, and pretend he didn’t know I was doing it, but ask if I was watching 🤣 pic.twitter.com/p9DuiufCFA
— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024
Pasch noted that Walton would make silly t-shirts and placards for the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The designs occasionally made fun of Pasch and the product was given to the production crew.
Bill would create & print tee-shirts and placards every year we did the Pac 12 tournament, and hand them out to the crew lol. pic.twitter.com/a4dgqgb3DC
— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024
Some of the texts that Walton sent to Pasch were aligned with the stream-of-consciousness style that you would hear from the former NBA player when he was on the air.
His style of writing was just as out there and intergalactic as he presented.
And the random, out of nowhere texts…man, this is cathartic. Miss and love this guy. pic.twitter.com/IhTT3HuzDy
— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024
Pasch shared that he made t-shirts to wear for their final broadcast together, whenever that happened.
Unfortunately, however, they never got a chance to have that moment to say goodbye to each other while calling a game.
Last one. Made this shirt to wear on our final broadcast, which sadly never happened. pic.twitter.com/nQAWZsmUSN
— Dave Pasch (@DavePasch) May 28, 2024
In what was actually their final broadcast together, the two made up a story about how Chewbacca was actually based on Walton.
Pasch will always have the beautiful memories and texts (and this amazing t-shirt, among many others) to remember his late friend.
The world will always remember Walton as so much larger than life, and Pasch’s stories perfectly embody exactly that.
