By George Vargas / San Diego Union-Tribune / May27, 2024
Bill Walton’s passion for basketball was rivaled only by his passion for rock ‘n’ roll, in particular the music of the Grateful Dead. The San Diego-bred basketball icon — who died Monday at the age of 71 following a battle with cancer — saw the Dead perform more than 850 times, starting with a 1967 Mother’s Day show at San Diego State University’s Aztec Bowl.
“I loved the Dead right away, the first time I heard them,” Walton told this writer in a 1992 Union-Tribune interview. “I loved the speed, the dancing, the rhythm, the creativity. It’s just like being on a basketball team. Basketball, like good, creative, rock music, is never the same.”
A frequent attendee at concerts in San Diego — including Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s April 26 performance at SDSU — Walton was also a devoted fan of everyone from Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to Bonnie Raitt and the Beach Boys.
When he was negotiating his contract with the San Diego Clippers in 1979, Walton sought a clause from the team that guaranteed him 56 tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert. His quest was successful. But it was the Dead’s music that most enchanted him throughout his life.
In recent decades Walton sat in as often as his schedule allowed with the Electric Waste Band, a leading Dead tribute band, at its weekly performances at Winstons in Ocean Beach.
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God bless Bill Walton. Throw it down big man, throw it down!
San Diegans, take heart in our moment of grief, for reflection. Walton has only been made stronger now…
Beautiful and to the point!
We lost a local hero.
Thank you OB Rag for the beautiful remembrance.
He is now one of the grateful Dead.
RIP Bill