Oftentimes in recent years, the eccentric Bill Walton, a lover of nature and the Grateful Dead, could be seen on a Pac-12 broadcast in a tie-dye shirt, finding new ways to make broadcast partner Dave Pasch laugh.
The UCLA legend, two-time NBA champion and Basketball Hall of Famer, who died Monday at 71 after a battle with cancer, was an accomplished broadcaster for CBS and NBC before joining ESPN and ABC in 2002 as an NBA game analyst.
Some of his most memorable moments as a broadcaster, though, came when he shifted to college hoops broadcasts in 2012, and a supercut of amusing soundbites was posted to social media Monday after Walton’s death.
It features Pasch telling Walton to take a bit out of a cupcake while the candle in it was still lit — and Walton proceeding to do just that.
One time the two were joined by Jay Bilas, who was wearing a tie-dye shirt that Walton praised, saying he has one.
“This is your shirt,” Bilas replied.
Walton once brought dirt from Temecula and rubbed it on his arms and face, saying afterward, “Now I’m ready to go.”
During one Oregon game, Walton was enjoying National Popcorn Day by pouring some on Pasch’s head and putting some in the Ducks mascot’s mouth.
“Please, party on,” Walton said. “It’s a wonderful day, it’s Oregon, the sun was out.”
In the middle of an Oregon-Arizona game in 2020, Walton was holding a large stone and said to Pasch, “I was just carrying it around. I was wondering if you’ve ever been stoned before,” and handed the stone over.
Other memorable moments included him briefly going shirtless to change shirts, playing a Glockenspiel, and saying he “found that mushrooms only help you.”
He once called a White Sox-Angels came with Jason Benetti and said, “I’m not a very good catcher. I’m much better at getting high than getting low.”
And one time with a Hawaiian lei around his neck, Walton said, “It doesn’t get any better than this. I just got lei’d.”
Walton wasn’t sure he’d make it as a broadcaster because of a stutter he dealt with at times, but he became an Emmy winner.