Bill Walton, Hall of Fame player, legendary broadcaster, and man of many talents and interests, passed away earlier today. Before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Rick Carlisle was eager to share stories about his friend and m how he had Walton to thank for his relationship and marriage with his wife.
Carlisle told the story of the first date with his now wife Donna as he wanted to take her to a Grateful Dead show but didn’t have any tickets. So he called the ultimate Dead-head, Bill Walton, for assistance. Walton did him one better than simply tickets but directed Carlisle to the backdoor entrance where someone would have backstage passes waiting for him and his date.
“Really?“ Carlisle said he asked Walton in semi-disbelief. “He just said ‘Oh yeah.’”
Sure enough, two passes were ready and waiting for him as he nervously followed his teammate’s directions while his date wondered whether he actually had tickets to the show or not.
Carlisle said they eventually would end up just “shooting the shit” with lead singer Jerry Garcia and other members of the band during an intermission.
“It was a great first date,” Carlisle said.
Carlisle had unending praise for Walton saying that he “endlessly competed for every moment in life.” He shared the first moment that he met Walton came with him surprisingly eating a roast beef sandwich when everyone on the Celtics thought that he was a vegetarian.
Carlisle also said the Walton had been texting him often during the team’s playoff run and that he’s a big fan of how the Pacers play. Carlisle said he shared some of the text messages with the team before their prep work for Game 4.
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