FILE - Basketball Hall of Fame legend Bill Walton laughs during a practice session for the NBA All-Star basketball game in Cleveland, Feb. 19, 2022. Walton, who starred for John Wooden's UCLA Bruins before becoming a Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the biggest stars of basketball broadcasting, died Monday, May 27, 2024, the league announced on behalf of his family. He was 71.
Charles Krupa / AP
Bill Walton loved the Rose City and he had a soft spot for one place in particular: Wallace Park in Northwest Portland.
The former Trail Blazer regularly spent time shooting hoops at the neighborhood park during his time with the team in the 1970s.
Commissioner Dan Ryan, who oversees Portland Parks & Recreation, is looking at ways to honor Walton at his beloved park.
T.J. McHugh, Ryan’s chief of staff, said the commissioner is asking the parks bureau to offer recommendations by next week on how to do so. The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported on Ryan’s request.
“Bill Walton is a staple of Portland,” McHugh said of the 71-year-old Blazers legend who died of cancer last week. McHugh said the recommendations could include honoring Walton by renaming the park itself or its basketball courts, where he used to play.
Related: NBA Hall of Famer and Trail Blazers legend Bill Walton dies at 71 after prolonged fight with cancer
A parks spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the bureau is developing proposals for Ryan to review.
The neighborhood park at Northwest 25th Avenue and Raleigh Street featured prominently in Walton’s life in the 1970s when he lived two blocks away. Walton returned to the park for a scene in a four-part ESPN documentary on his life, which was released last year. In it, Walton talks about how much the park meant to him.
Walton talked about the park’s importance in a 2019 story published by The Athletic. During the championship parade following the franchise’s 1977 NBA championship, Walton wore a green shirt that read simply: Wallace Park.
“That shirt sits in a museum,” Walton told The Athletic. “Wallace Park is just the coolest neighborhood park. I’m a park guy, an outdoors guy, and that’s where we went.”
Related: ‘The Evergreen’: Remembering Rip City icon Bill Walton
McHugh said the city is “at the very beginning of the process” and expects more information in the coming weeks.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden has also called on the Trail Blazers to honor Walton along with his friend and teammate Maurice Lucas with statues outside the Moda Center. “Let generations to come commemorate the achievements on and off the court of two men who truly were trailblazers,” Wyden wrote in an op-ed in The Oregonian. Lucas died in 2010.
If the city moves forward with renaming the park, it would not be the first time a legendary Portland figure has been recognized under Ryan’s watch. Last year, the Portland City Council unanimously approved a plan to rename downtown Portland’s O’Bryant Square to Darcelle XV Plaza, the stage name of the renowned drag performer and business owner, Walter Cole.