When Bill Walton Made the Boston Celtics Deadheads

It’s been a year since one of the most beloved people on this planet passed away.

Legendary basketball player and personality Bill Walton died on May 27, 2024, after a hard-fought battle with cancer. He was 71 years old.

Bill Walton Had a Hall-of-Fame Basketball Career

Walton was a national treasure both on and off the court. He is remembered as one of the greatest college basketball players of all time, having won three National Player of the Year awards and two national championships at UCLA.

He went on to have a very successful NBA career, though it was unfortunately hampered by injuries. He won two NBA championships, including one with the Boston Celtics.

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As great as his career was, Walton may be best remembered for his larger-than-life personality off the court. He was known for two things: being an incredibly entertaining TV analyst and being the most famous "Deadhead" of all time.

Bill Walton May Have Been the Most Well-Known "Deadhead" in History

Walton was a huge Grateful Dead fan, having seen nearly 1,000 live shows. He even followed the band to Egypt for their 1978 performance at the Pyramids, where he joined the Dead on stage for a bit of drumming. Walton wrote liner notes for them, quoted their lyrics thousands of times during basketball broadcasts, and spoke openly about how much their music and the surrounding culture meant to him. Heck, he was even known as "Grateful Red" in the Deadhead community.

His incredible fandom came as no surprise to anyone—including his teammates—which leads us to one of my favorite Bill Walton stories of all time: the time he got practically the entire Boston Celtics team to fall in love with the Dead.

Here’s Walton talking about it during an interview with singer-songwriter Rich Meijer.

(Poor Danny Ainge—totally blocked by the better half. Hey, it happens.)

What a great story from Walton. There's nothing like hooking up your boys with quite possibly the greatest seats ever for a rock show. Just the perfect VIP section for the ultimate VIPs. And a huge hat tip to the Dead and their crew for putting this incredible experience together. It's yet another great example of how cool that band (and their roadies) truly were.

Also, the Jerry Garcia quote to Larry Bird is the stuff of legend.

"Larry, this is what we do." Goosebumps city. What a badass.

I highly recommend checking out the full interview. Walton dives deep into what the Dead truly meant to him and the lasting impact they had.

Bill Walton was one of a kind, in the best possible ways. The world needs more Bills.