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The life lessons of Bill Walton

Basketball Hall of Famer bounces wisdom off Durango youths

A gym full of eager children and parents awaited the entrance of one of basketball’s biggest and brightest stars, but nobody expected what Bill Walton had prepared.

Walton, 61, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after his success in college at UCLA and in the National Basketball Association with the Boston Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers, visited the Durango Community Recreation Center on Wednesday. The majority of those in attendance expected to get a few autographs and photos while Walton would watch local youths participate in a free-throw shooting contest.

Walton, who stands at 6-11, did all of the above, but first he delivered nearly 90 minutes of basketball and life lessons.

“I have benefited so much in my life because of the sacrifices of others. Great parents, fabulous teachers and coaches. I’ve had incredible role models and heroes,” Walton said. “It is a great privilege and opportunity for me to be able to come back to the Durango Community Recreation Center and to be able to witness firsthand our future and see how bright it is.

“I’m the lucky one. I learn from the children and the parents, and I love doing this.”

Walton’s first lesson to the children was to take off their hats and tuck in their shirts when playing basketball. After teaching the proper mechanics of a pushup and having the kids run two laps around the gym, Walton delved into deeper lessons, largely inspired by his legendary coach at UCLA, the late John Wooden.

“In life and basketball, you need four things: balance, quickness, creative imagination and empathy,” Walton said. “You have to keep your head at the midpoint between your two feet, so when an obstacle pops up in front of you, you can go around it. ... You have to have creative imagination to come up with new ideas all the time to gain an advantage over your opponent. And, finally, empathy to understand we are all different, but we’re all on the same team. You have to understand the needs, concerns, cares and wants of all of our teammates and family members.”

Walton, a two-time NBA champion, the 1977 NBA Finals MVP and the 1979 NBA MVP, talked about health and fitness and about doing things the right way.

“If you can’t do a pushup straight, don’t rush through it. Do one perfect today. Maybe tomorrow you can do two,” he said. “There are four laws of learning: repetition, demonstration, imitation and correction. Identify what you can’t do and practice it.”

Walton said the three most important jobs in life are being a coach, a parent and a teacher.

He told children that if they don’t like their coach or aren’t having fun, maybe they should quit and find a new coach or team.

“From a teacher’s perspective, it’s not how or what you teach, it is who the teachers are themselves in conjunction with the idea that you have not taught until they’ve learned,” Walton said. “Children shouldn’t sit around waiting and watching. If you aren’t having fun, quit and find a new coach or activity. If you’re playing at a level where you aren’t getting to play, go down a level where you always have the ball in your hand.”

Walton, who led UCLA with 44 points on 21-of-22 shooting from the field in the 1973 national championship game in an 87-66 win against Memphis State, said he only ever wanted to help his team win. He called his 44-point game lucky.

“The whole idea is to be successful as a team and to help your teammates get better,” he said.

Walton had stories of teammates such as Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, and he reached out to the younger generation with comparisons to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, as well as his favorite fundamental team, the San Antonio Spurs.

They were all lessons and stories that hit home for the young players and their parents in attendance.

“It was fantastic, unbelievable, really,” said 46-year-old Dave Dillman, who brought his sons Artie, 4, and Charlie, 8, to the gym Wednesday. “I was surprised that a hall-of-famer was going to be here, and I made a note to myself to bring the boys down here, and they got a little bit of a lesson in basketball and a little bit on life.”

Vicente Jimenez, a 17-year-old student at Durango High School, was called out several times to demonstrate proper technique during the drills Walton was running. It was an experience Jimenez said inspired him.

“It really motivates you to work hard to try to become better,” said Jimenez, son of Maria Jimenez and Dionis Peña. “I never expected all of this, and it was really cool of (Walton) to take time with us. It definitely made me want to be a leader during this year’s tryouts, and it makes me want to step up and do better.”

Brandon Trujillo, a 15-year-old student at DHS, won the free-throw shooting competition and an autographed basketball from Walton. Like Trujillo, he never expected more than the competition and a chance to get a photo.

“We were talking about it all day at school. Everybody was talking smack to each other saying they were going to win,” said Trujillo, son of Gina Rodriguez and Phil Trujillo. “Once the contest started, I got butterflies, but I was OK after the first couple of shots.

“We’ve never had anything like this come to Durango, and it was a good thing to take advantage of as a ballplayer. I’m really glad I came,” he said.

There was one lesson Walton wanted to make sure set in before breaking up a group question-and-answer session. He said his entire trip to Durango is about inspiring hope, but the biggest thing people can have hope in is themselves.

“Learn to like yourself,” he said. “Don’t play for anybody but yourself. The only way to be good at anything in your life is if you do it for yourself.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com

Bill Walton: An overview

College career

Bill Walton attended the University of California at Los Angeles after his high school career in the San Diego area.

He won three College Player of the Year awards and two national championships during his time in Westwood.

At one point, the Bruins won 88 consecutive games during Walton’s career under famed head coach John Wooden.

Pro career

The Portland Trail Blazers made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 1974 NBA draft. He won a championship in Portland and was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable player in 1977, then won the NBA MVP the next year.

Walton joined Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics teams in the late 1980s, winning another title in 1986, the same year he was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year.

He retired in 1987 and was voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Broadcast career

Since retiring form the NBA, Walton has been a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Clipperc, ABC/ESPN and NBC.

Today, you can find him broadcasting Pac-12 basketball for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network.

Durango Herald

If You Go

Who: Bill Walton.

What: Speech on minimally disruptive spine surgery developed by NuVasive.

When: 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Where: DoubleTree Hotel, 501 Camino Del Rio, Durango.

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