This story, by Dwight Chapin, appeared in the March 18, 1972, issue of The Sporting News.
LOS ANGELES — He has skinny legs and arms, a bony frame, a lantern jaw and bright red hair that make him look like Huckleberry Finn — if Huckleberry Finn were 6-11.
The name is Bill Walton and he's the UCLA sophomore center who has led the Bruins (otherwise known as the Walton Gang) in a devastating romp through college basketball this season.
Walton, who has been named The Sporting News' 1971-72 College Player of the Year, is the most intimidating presence in his sport since the days of a UCLA predecessor — Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
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In his ways, he is like Alcindor. In other ways, he is like Bill Russell. The comparisons tell you how good he is.
"I've never seen a player," said his coach, John Wooden, "who makes the outlet pass and starts the fast break as well."
Brilliant on Fast Break
It is something UCLA lacked the last two seasons, despite its national championships. So adept is Walton at the clearing pass that the Bruins' fast break looks like a Keystone Kops chase this year, only the result is not slapstick, but points.
Walton makes the pass so well because of a physical handicap. He twisted a knee and had to undergo surgery after his freshman year at San Diego's Helix High School
"I couldn't run very well, even after the operation," he said, "so there was no way I could stay with everybody in fast breaks. All I did was get the rebound, make the quick pass and watch everybody go. I got pretty good at it because I did it so much. And I sort of enjoyed standing back there, watching our guys destroy everybody at the other end.
Perhaps of all the great big men of college basketball, Walton looks least like the All-America he is.
Not only is he frail and pale, he has tendinitis in both knees, making it painful for him to run. Each day he must undergo a therapeutic ritual — a half-hour of heat treatment before he suits up, another half-hour of rubbing ice on each knee after practice and after games. And Wooden gives him Mondays off from practice after weekend games to rest.
Skilled in All Phases
But despite the handicap, he is deceptively, even amazingly, mobile,
He is highly skilled in every area of the game. Despite sitting on the bench for long periods of time because UCLA has built up such big leads, Walton has averaged more than 20 points and 15 rebounds a game most of the season. He has a fine offensive shooting touch from 10-15 feet and he is a remarkable defender and shot blocker.
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Success came easily —and early — starting at Blessed Sacrament Elementary School in La Mesa, a San Diego suburb.
Walton always enjoyed playing against bigger, older kids "because it was more challenging. I sometimes played in four or five leagues at a time, almost the year around."
A High School Celebrity
At Helix High, he got a nickname ("Mount Helix') and became a celebrity.
He once took a girl friend to a concert and it was reported the next day in a San Francisco newspaper.
"I can't do anything," he told his coach, Gordon Nash, "without reading about it in the paper."
In his senior season, he led Helix to a 33-0 record and he smashed the San Diego-area prep scoring record with a 29-point average.
Walton and his father stopped counting the scholarship offers he received at 110. He carefully considered six schools — California, USC, Duke, UC-Santa Barbara and San Diego State — in addition to UCLA.
Dick Davis of San Diego State, who might have hustled harder to get him than anyone else, called him "the best high school player I've ever seen."
John Wooden was a little more reserved.
"He is as good a prospect at this stage of development as anyone I have ever seen," said Wooden.
A partial reason for Bill's selection of UCLA might have been the fact his older brother, 6-6, 280-pound Bruce, is a football tackle at the school.
The whole Walton family is large — the father 6-4, the mother 5-10, younger brother Andy 6-5.
Just Messin' Around
Bill may not be quite as recognizable yet at UCLA as he was at Helix. A girl looked up at him coming out of a restaurant not long ago and exclaimed:
"Boy, you must be a basketball player, huh?"
He smiled nervously, shuffled his feet and buried his chin in his shirt collar.
"Yeah," he murmured, almost inaudibly.
"You play professional?" she asked.
"No."
"Oh, just messin' around, huh?"
"Yeah."
He's losing some of that, but Walton still is a shy youngster of 19 with a slight tendency to stammer. But he's different on the basketball court — excited, electric, animated, playing with a verve that is stimulating to watch.
He'll still react uncomfortably to some things, such as being compared with Alcindor or being asked if he's going to turn professional
"Alcindor was — and is Alcindor," he said. "He's the greatest there is. It may be 20 years before somebody like him comes along again.
"The guys on our team all know that, too. And I really respect them for it. It makes my job easier. Nobody who knows anything about basketball compares me with Alcindor."
But the comparisons are starting — about the relative abilities of each man and about the fact each may be taller than listed in the UCLA program.
Ron Taylor, the ex-USC center, used to say Aicindor was "7-5." Rick Rawlings of Washington State said not long ago that "Walton has to be more like 7-1 than 6-11. All I saw were his elbows."
It's possible he's still growing, Wooden said Walton's biggest improvement is in the area of emotion.
"He was given to outbursts of temper last year," said Wooden, "Little things bothered him — harmless fouls, goal-tending calls. He's come a long way. His added maturity has helped. But sometimes he still expects too much of himself."
Pros Are Attracted
Although he's a teen-ager, Walton already is being eyed covetously by the pros. On a recent trip, he carefully unfolded his wallet and showed a reporter that in it was a $1 bill.
But he said, "Playing pro ball doesn't mean that much to me now. I still need to improve my game. I'm sure I'll be much better next year, I'm getting stronger. I weighed 205 at the start of the season and now I'm 230. And, besides, I think I'd be better off financially if I waited until I'm through playing college ball. I'll be 22 then — and a lot better player."
Pro teams have approached him.
"They've called my parents and my brother because I don't have a phone and don't want to be bothered," he said. "I've told my family to refer them to Sam Gilbert (a UCLA alumnus and Los Angeles businessman who has served as adviser to several Bruin basketball players, including Alcindor and Sidney Wicks)."
He's a Scholar, Too
Even if he doesn't ever play pro ball, Walton's future seems assured.
He was 29th academically in a class of 575 at Helix High and his prep coach, Nash, said:
"Bill is an excellent student and not necessarily because he's a super brain. It's because he's a super achiever. I've known him to spend all weekend on an English paper he wanted to get an 'A' on."
A history major at UCLA with a preference for African and European studies, he may go to law school.
"It would be nice to have a lot of money," he admitted, "but I know a lot of people with lots of money who are unhappy.
"My idea of living is to enjoy life. That's all. Life is too short to feel any other way."