# Bill Walton on Reddit (u/officialbillwalton)

Part of Athletes on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/athletes-on-reddit/bill-walton

Bill Walton (1952–2024): NBA Hall of Famer and broadcaster.

- Reddit account: [u/officialbillwalton](https://www.reddit.com/user/officialbillwalton/) (AMA only)
- How we know it's theirs: [His 2015 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/30e0de/i_am_bill_walton_nba_hall_of_famer_sportscaster/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/IAmA (27)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2015 to 2015
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Walton

## Moments

### u/officialbillwalton in r/IAmA, Mar 26, 2015 · Personal story

Replying to a redditor:

> Have you ever been to a volcano when its erupting?

> We were on tour with the Grateful Dead in Oregon. They were playing the show and they start playing Fire on the Mountain. The volcano next door, Mt. Helens, blows up. When the show was over a bunch of us raced to the airport and boarded a plane. We told people at the airport we were scientists studying atmospheric conditions and the effect of smoke and volcanic explosions on the human spirit,  so the pilot was terrified, but we convinced him to fly right into the smoking crater with fire and lava everywhere. He wanted to go home but we were on a scientific mission and we kept getting closer and closer. As we were flying around inside the erupting volcano, the military jets scrambled from the local base and come up there to get us out of there. It was a real dogfight but we had the spirit of Cortez on our side. We eventually left and when we landed at the airport the pilot was most relieved as we quickly fled and went back to the rest of the tour.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/30e0de/comment/cprkvpm/ · 370 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/officialbillwalton in r/IAmA, Mar 26, 2015 · AMA answer

Replying to a redditor:

> Mr. Walton, first off thank you for doing this AMA. During an Oregon-USC broadcast earlier this year you called Michael Jordan 'average' & later went on to say that he is not a top 3 player of all time. I was curious who in your opinion are the top 3 players of all time?

> I did not call Michael Jordan average, I said Michael Jordan is average size, strength, speed, and jumping ability. The top 7 players of the history of basketball in chronological order are Bill Russell, Wilt, Oscar, Kareem, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. I have no problem with you disagreeing with what I say, but please make sure it's what I say, not what you think I said. When everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks. It's ok to disagree, just don't be disagreeable. I'm all about peace and love, I'm about freedom and independence, I am about freedom of choice. I stand behind what I say. I believe what I say and I speak from the heart.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/30e0de/comment/cprjv6z/ · 193 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/officialbillwalton in r/IAmA, Mar 26, 2015 · Funny

Replying to a redditor:

> Hey Bill! do you think the NCAA should switch to a 30 second shot clock to improve the pace of games? do you think Pac12 refs call fouls constantly because they want to hang out with you for longer?

> 1) Yes.
> 2) No. I love the refs, please check out my website - ilovetherefs.org, it's a charity.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/30e0de/comment/cprko8r/ · 129 points as of Nov 7, 2026