He demanded there be no funeral.
The man who brought Portland together, who inspired its citizens to storm the court and pack the streets, simply wished not to intrude. He did not want people to pause their own lives on his behalf.
Bill Walton did not want to be a bother.
No service. No memorial. No celebration of life.
“He was very firm,” his son, Luke, said this week.
So then, how would Bill feel about what the Trail Blazers are doing on Sunday? The fact that Portland’s NBA team will honor their greatest champion with a game night celebration? That they will fly in his family members and old teammates and that the Blazers broadcasters will all be decked out in tie-dye in his honor?
“I think he would roll his eyes at it,” Luke told me, “but knowing his heart the way I do, I think he would really appreciate it.”
Detroit Pistons vs. Golden State Warriors - January 16, 2016
Luke Walton has been a head coach with the Lakers and Sacramento Kings and in 2016 was the interim coach of the Golden State Warriors. Now an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons, he will be on the sidelines Sunday, when Portland honors his dad, Bill Walton. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com) Mike MulhollandMike Mulholland
You see, Bill loved events like this. Reunions, celebrations, anniversaries. He loved participating in them — for other people.
“That’s why I think he wouldn’t want it,” said Luke, who is in his first season as an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons. “But I think he’ll be smiling down while it is happening.”
Because this one is for other people. It’s for all of us. For Bill’s family, his friends and teammates, and you and me. For Portland.
Big Bill died in May. He was 71. For most, it came out of nowhere. A genuine shock. He’d been sick and missed the Pac-12 tournament two months earlier, which should have been an indication that something was gravely wrong.
“He wanted nobody interrupting their lives to worry about him,” Luke said. “So we respected those wishes and just spent every moment we could with him.”
Luke and his three brothers, their cousins and Bill’s wife, Lori, spent several somber months, the final days, with Bill in San Diego. That was when they told stories and grieved and celebrated a life.
The 10 months since have been all too relatable for anyone who has lost a family member.
“There’s so many times in your day you go to text him,” Luke said, and or go to call him and you’re like, ‘Oh f---, I can’t do that. Something happens with the kids, or something happens with work that you know he would love to hear about. And you’re like, I can’t share that with him anymore.”
It’s an experience that he has largely shared only with his family. He has not had the opportunity to grieve with his dad’s friends and teammates, let alone his fans.
When UCLA honored Walton last month, Luke was with the Pistons for a game in Atlanta.
“I heard it was awesome,” Luke said. “The family all loved it.”
The Blazers have honored Walton all season with a tie-dye stripe on the team’s jerseys, but targeted Sunday’s game against Detroit for a game-night celebration so that all four of Walton’s sons — Adam, Nate, Luke and Chris — could attend.
“Knowing that our entire family, the people he loved the most, whether they were blood or not blood, will be there and kind of get to celebrate him again is something that I think is going to be a nice moment for all of us,” Luke said.
Of Walton’s four sons, Luke was the one who managed to make a career out of basketball. In his 10-year NBA playing career, and the years since as a coach, Luke, 44, had a special appreciation for games in Portland.
The 1977 championship banner his dad helped raise hangs above the court, as does his retired No. 32 jersey. Luke also always took time to appreciate the No. 20 bannering Maurice Lucas, after whom he was named. Luke was the head coach of the Lakers in 2017 on the night the Blazers celebrated the 40th anniversary of the title team.
“You walk the halls and you see old pictures of when he was young and celebrating with his teammates and Coach (Jack) Ramsay,” Luke said. “So you would get the understanding and feeling of what an amazing place this was for my dad.
“Then you could just kind of — at least me — I could feel and kind of picture what that must have been like. And how much fun that must have been. ... The city of Portland, the lifestyle that Big Bill lived were kind of a perfect match.”
Luke wasn’t born until three years after the 1977 championship. His dad had acrimoniously left the Blazers by then. He didn’t talk to his sons much directly about what he had accomplished in Portland. Hoisting the championship trophy, his 1978 Most Valuable Player award.
“But he’d have friends come,” Luke said. “As kids, we didn’t really know who a lot of these people were. But they would come to the house in the summer and stay for a week and we would just get to know them as almost uncles.”
Over time, he began to connect the dots.
“As I got older,” Luke said, “and started seeing more video of the teams, I’d be like, ‘Oh, that was Bobby Gross.’ or that Maurice, Uncle Luke, is this big, bad man that was the enforcer on the team.
“Lionel Hollins would come down all the time with his family and they would sit around and tell stories and laugh.”
Milwaukee Bucks vs Portland Trail Blazers
Bill Walton and Blazers teammates Lionel Hollins, Maurice Lucas and Dave Twardzik during the 1976-77 season that brought Portland its first NBA championship. Hollins and Twardzik are expected to attend the Blazers celebration for Walton on Sunday at Moda Center. (Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)Sports Illustrated via Getty Ima
Hollins is expected to be there on Sunday. Gross, too. And Corky Calhoun and Lloyd Neal, Johnny Davis, Wally Walker and Dave Twardzik.
Bill didn’t want a funeral.
This is not that.
It’s just another sunny day in the backyard in San Diego, with Bill’s friends dropping by to tell stories and laugh.
And for curious kids to listen in and hear them one more time.
--Bill Oram is the sports columnist at The Oregonian/OregonLive.