College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America Team

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• Bill Walton: 1994 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Inductee

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Bill Walton Selected as the 2018 Dick Enberg Award Winner
by Barb Kowal, CoSIDA Director of Director of Professional Development & External Affairs

 

Bill Walton, NBA Hall of Famer and a consensus National Player of the Year, three-time All-America and a CoSIDA Academic All-America® during his legendary UCLA basketball playing career, has been named recipient of the 2018 Dick Enberg Award which is presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The Dick Enberg Award, named for the late world renowned and legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster, is presented annually to a person whose actions and commitment have furthered the meaning and reach of the Academic All-America® Teams Program and/or the student-athlete while promoting the values of education and academics.

The award was created in part to recognize Enberg's passion and support of the Academic All-America® program, and more importantly, his dedication to education for more than four decades.

Walton, a long-time friend of Enberg who he regarded as one of his key supporters and mentors, will receive the honor at the ninth annual CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame® Ceremony. This take place on Thursday, June 28 at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland, site of CoSIDA's annual convention. The CoSIDA Convention is held in conjunction the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) convention for the sixth consecutive year.

A standout scholar-athlete during his distinguished collegiate career at UCLA, Walton represented academic and athletic excellence, excellence embodied by CoSIDA’s signature Academic All-America® program which Enberg embraced as the program’s long-time ambassador and spokesperson. Enberg passed away suddenly on December 21, 2017 at his home in La Jolla, California at the age of 82.

“CoSIDA is thrilled to present the 2018 Dick Enberg Award to Bill Walton,” said Rob Carolla, CoSIDA President and Director of Communications for the College Football 150th Anniversary. “It will be difficult for our membership and past Academic All-America Hall of Famers to not have Dick present at this year’s ceremony. Yet, I am certain that he would be as excited as anyone to know his close friend Bill is receiving this honor. From overcoming challenges while growing up to his commitment to the community, Walton is a wonderful recipient. As Dick himself once said about Bill – his energy and enthusiasm are unparalleled.”

During his UCLA career, Walton was a three-time Academic All-America First Team selection as a sophomore, junior and senior (1972, 1973 and 1974). He was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame, then sponsored by GTE, in 1994. He graduated from UCLA with honors with a B.A. in history. Walton also attended Stanford University Graduate School of Law in the early 1980's.

“I am not worthy of this, but I am honored, humbled, grateful and very proud to receive the Dick Enberg Award,” noted Walton. “I am blown away by the kindness and generosity of Barbara and the entire Enberg family, and of CoSIDA, with honoring me with the Dick Enberg Award, on the heels of my hero’s passing. Dick Enberg was as fine, as talented, as accredited, as accomplished, as skilled, as professional, and as great a broadcaster as I’ve ever seen. He was an even better human being. For well over 50 years, I was his fan, subject, pupil, intern, broadcast partner, co-conspirator in the game of life, and friend. He was the most unique and remarkable force of nature.”

As the 22nd recipient of the Enberg Award, Walton joins a select group that includes a United States President, college presidents and chancellors, several of the top winningest Division I coaches in the sports of football, men's basketball and women's basketball, numerous Olympic medalists and a former member of the United States Cabinet.

“I was barely 14 years old, maybe, when Dick graciously entered my world as the local broadcaster for UCLA Basketball," Walton said. "It was 1966. He never left; and I’m the better for it. There was never a moment for more than the next five decades that Dick did not exhibit an unsurpassed level of class, dignity, optimism, hope, and exuberance for life lived to the fullest.”

Before a series of injuries hampered his professional career, Walton dominated college basketball. At UCLA in the early 1970’s, the 6-11 center was a force on the hardwood, helping the Bruins win a then-record 88 consecutive games and two NCAA national championships in 1972 and 1973. The theme of “two championships” was a fixture in Walton’s basketball career, as he won two high school championships (1969 and 1970), the two NCAA titles and then two NBA world championships, one with the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers and one with the 1986 Boston Celtics. As a senior at Helix High School, Walton averaged 29 points and 25 rebounds in leading the team to a 33-0 season and its second straight championship.

Walton is one of only four players in the history of basketball to have won multiple NCAA and multiple NBA Championships. Walton is also the second of only five players in the history of the NBA to lead the league in both blocked shots and rebounding in the same season.

 
At UCLA, Walton played from 1971 to 1974 and led the John Wooden-coached Bruins to 88 consecutive wins and two national championships in 1972 and 1973 and was named the college national player of the year for three straight seasons (1972-74). Freshmen were ineligible for any varsity sports at that time so Walton’s career was for three seasons. Under Wooden’s guidance, Walton developed into the consummate center. Intense and outspoken, Walton also became well-known for his public off-court involvement in politics, rallies and and demonstrations.

During his UCLA career, he scored 1,767 points (20.3 ppg average), collecting 1,370 rebounds (breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's school record with his 15.7 average) and finished as the second-most accurate shooter in UCLA history (.651 field-goal percentage). Walton was the 1973 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Walton also received the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year honors three years in a row.

After graduating with honors, Walton was made the first pick in the 1974 draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Yet he never fulfilled the greatness he showed in college because of a series of injuries which hampered him throughout his NBA career.

He was a member of Portland’s world championship team in 1977 when he earned MVP honors. Nine years later in 1986 he earned another championship title, this time with the Boston Celtics. He played with the Trailblazers 1974-1979, the San Diego Clippers 1979-1984, the relocated Los Angeles Clippers in 1985, and the Celtics 1985-1988.

Bill Walton also was the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1978, a two-time NBA All-Star (1977, 1978) 1978; and winner of the NBA’s Sixth Man Award (1986).

Among his numerous honors, Walton was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (1993), the National High School Sports Hall of Fame (1977), and was chosen as one of the NBA’s Fifty Greatest Player of All-Time (1997). The NCAA honored Walton with their Silver Anniversary Award in 1999 for having made significant professional and civic contributions.

Walton has also been inducted into the San Diego Breitbard Sports Hall of Fame, the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and the Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame. A long-time devotee of the Grateful Dead, In June 21, 2001, Walton was named as the inaugural inductee into the Grateful Dead Hall of Honor in June of 2001.

Since the early nineties, Walton has expressed his views as a television basketball analyst for college and pro games and has remained active in basketball through clinics, coaching and commentary. Walton worked for CBS Sports in the early 90's during the NCAA Final Four and then for NBC for many years, including work on the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Over the last two-plus decades he has worked for ABC, ESPN, NBC, CBS, Fox, MSNBC, Turner Sports, and the NBA. In 2009, Walton was named one of the top 50 sports broadcasters of all time by the American Sportscasters Association.

Walton currently serves as the Executive Chairman of Connect SD Sport Innovators (SDSI), a non-profit, business accelerating, trade organization to drive the growth of Southern California's sports economy by offering innovative programs and services for startups, mature companies and service providers. SDSI offers mentoring, education and capital funding opportunities for start-ups; best practice collaboration, access to new technology, and public policy advocacy for mature companies. Bill is also a board member for the Junior Seau Foundation.

Walton currently resides in his hometown of San Diego with his wife Lori. They are the proud parents of four sons: Adam, Nathan, Luke and Chris, and the grandparents of Olivia, Avery Rose and Chase. Walton's four sons all have been college basketball players (Adam at LSU; Nate at Princeton; Luke at Arizona; and Chris at San Diego State.) Walton and his third son Luke are only the third father/son pairing to have ever won NBA Championships. They are also the only father/son combination in history to have each won multiple NBA Championships.

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Previous Dick Enberg Award Recipients
 

2017   Dr. Robert Khayat, Former Chancellor, University of Mississippi
2016   Roger Staubach, United States Naval Academy/Pro Football Hall of Famer, Dallas Cowboys
2015   Andre Agassi, International Tennis Hall of Famer
2014   Ann Meyers Drysdale, Basketball Hall of Famer, UCLA/Vice President, Phoenix Mercury & Suns
2013   Mike Krzyzewski, Head Men's Basketball Coach, Duke University
2012   Joe Paterno, Head Football Coach Emeritus, Penn State University
2011   Jackie Joyner-Kersee, UCLA, United States Olympian
2010   Tom Hansen, Commissioner Emeritus, Pac-10 Conference
2009   Steve Smith, Former Basketball Standout, Michigan State & NBA
2008   Chuck Lee, CEO Emeritus, GTE Corporation
2007   Pat Summit, Head Women's Basketball Coach Emeritus, University of Tennessee
2006   Gerald R. Ford, Former U.S. President
2005   Father Theodore Hesburgh, President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
2004   Dr. Ted Leland, Director of Athletics Emeritus, Stanford University
2003   Dr. Tom Osborne, Director of Athletics/Head Football Coach Emeritus, University of Nebraska
2002   Judge Alan Page, Associate Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
2001   Dr. Donna Shalala, President, Clinton Foundations; former President, University of Miami/Former U.S. Secretary of Education
2000   Bill Russell, Basketball Hall of Famer, University of San Francisco/Boston Celtics
1999   Dean Smith, Head Men's Basketball Coach Emeritus, University of North Carolina
1998   John Humenik, Former CoSIDA Executive Director, University of Florida/CoSIDA Board
1997   Dick Enberg, Hall of Fame Broadcaster/National Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award