I was looking through my e-mail history with Bill Walton the other day, trying to find the best way to pay tribute to his astonishing life. And I found this reply, in response to the first note I’d sent him, wondering if one of my favorite people in sports would maybe wanna meet up with me at All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
This was February 16, 2018, at 2:07 a.m. Eastern:
E-mailing with Bill Walton, in other words, was a lot like listening to Bill Walton broadcast a game. He wrote like he talked: in stanzas, with exclamation points, with kindness. It’s also how we more or less became friends.
Ahen he died, on May 27th, I wasn’t sure how to properly pay tribute to the man.